Brave New World
by EWHH its Kenna
Summary: /SasuSaku/ He reluctantly, wistfully, accepted the fact that he would just have to take back what was his after his revenge. And he wouldn't allow for anything to get in his way. "I'll make you mine."
1. Ambrosia

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO.**

**

* * *

**

(thump. thump. thump.)

...

...

_Press your chest against mine.  
Connect your heart with mine.  
We are the same.  
We are different.  
We are nothing.  
We can change._

_...  
_

(bang. bang. bang.)

...

**Breath. Breath. Breath****!**

...

(BANG! BANG! BANG!)

...

_Where are you?  
My savior.  
Come...  
Come help me.  
Come change me.  
Remind me. _

_...  
_

(splatter. splatter. splatter.)

_& discover our hearts._

...

...

Green eyes blinked open.

...

_-&-_

...

"SAKURA—!"

* * *

It was a deep voice that escaped through the large, black speakers that decorated the ceiling. The speaker's tone was as heavy as the air while it loomed through the prompt speakers above their heads. Every other second, it would snap an overused quote from their book.

Their guidelines.

_(loud. demanding. harsh. cold. apathetic. dea_—)

There was no sympathy, not even a hint of falter was present in that deep, monotonous—almost _robotic_—voice. It could compete with the coldness of the tiled floor below and it reveled in the same dead-like state that every other person held.

"Open."

It was calm, but imperious. Somehow, it managed to hold no tone to where one could depict a single emotion—yet, you could still sense the warning it held.

(disobey and die.)

Emerald orbs shot open, a dull, inert stare—roughly, as dead as the voice.

_(more. more. more.)_

More eyes blinked into a dead stare, blankly gazing at the basic concrete wall in front of them. Each one seemed completely immune to the visual in front of them; a mix of crusted and slowly dripping blood-splatters on the wall, the dead—some even decomposing—carcasses that were scattered into random piles on the tile floor, and the random organs and limbs that were stuffed into large, black boxes that laid every fifteen feet.

(the boxes were filled to the rim.)

Each one of the men and women and children and young adults were formed into their orderly diagnosed lines—only a mere foot was given between one another.

In the very front row was a girl.

She had pastel pink hair, deep—_dulling, dulling, dulling_—emerald eyes, and plump, vermilion lips which formed into a straight line. Her long legs and thin arms were scattered with innumerable abrasions and bruises, and her chest heaved up and down in a steady pattern.

...

...

...

"Do you remember the last time you smiled?"

She vividly nods her head.

"When you're near."

...

...

**00.**

In front of her stood a tall, lithe man. His eyebrows were knit tightly together and his almond-shaped eyes were slanted to the furthest degree. With every step he took, the room would impregnate with its harsh pounding against the tile floor.

(_step. step. step._)

He would glance at each person and row he passed, look down at the small clipboard he was holding, and make a small—or if you were unlucky, long—note.

"Sleep."

(and straight from the horses mouth, it was to be done.)

With her stolid expression remaining perfectly still, she let her pale lids slide swiftly down. Breathing in slow, controlled breaths she waited for her next action to be commanded. She took notice to a foreign emotion that she was feeling. It was something adjacent to fear; it lingered in the back of her mind and the pit of her stomach, but she successfully pushed it aside, clearing her mind.

Perfectly blank.

(_abyss. bottomless. Hel—_)

She heard that voice—that hardened _noise_—originate once again from the loudspeakers above.

Clear and emphasized.

"We must listen to '_Our Father_', the one who has created our lives. We must continue our jobs, do as we're told—_follow_."

(_follow. follow. follow._)

The words shall then be reiterated another 193 times.

_Welcome—_

* * *

**B**

**R**

**A**

**V**

**E**

.&.**  
**

**N**

**E**

**W**

.&.

**W**

**O **

**R**

**L**

**D  
**

* * *

—_to such a brave new world._

"Emotions make us weak."

Again.

"Emotions make us weak."

Another 100 times.

"Emotions make us weak."

Keep going—

"Wake."

She kept her eyes closed for an extra second, pushing back any possible feeling she thought would be acknowledged. In that mere second where she refused to open her eyes, a crack permeated the room. She bit her lip in order to hitch the yelp of pain that was trying to escape and her eyes finally shot open.

She declined the urge to look at her arm, where the pain was originating from, and stared at the man.

"No. 1178, what do emotions do?"

She was hesitant and meek. Her teeth which were still grazing her bottom lip wanted to reject the idea of moving, she did not want him to see her ignorance. "I don't know." She finally mumbled through barred teeth.

"Emotions—"

It was like something clicked in her head. The torrential downpour of questions—who is this man? where am I? who am I?—that consumed her many thoughts disappeared in an instant. The only thing remaining—

"Emotions make us weak." She stated in a distance, _robotic_ voice.

(that one she heard every night while she slept.)

The man nodded and asked her again. "What do emotions do?"

"I dunno, sir." Her hands shifted in obvious discomfort; they slowly formed into tight fists as her mind berated herself for not being able to answer his simple question. Her teeth retreated back to her habitual state, hesitantly grazing her vermilion red, bottom lip and she replied once again.

"I...don't know."

"Emotions—"

...

...

...

"When was the last time you've _felt_?"

His onyx eyes raise the slightest degree and he reluctantly replies,

"The last time I saw her."

...

...

**01.**

"Emotions make us weak."

* * *

(_Initializing sequence_ . . .** ACTIVATED**.)

Deep, obsidian eyes slowly rose to an open.

(**Breathing **. . . . CHECK!** Vital signs** . . . . CHECK! **Memory** . . . . —_Processing_— . . . . —_Processing_— . . . . CHE—!)

"I did not command you to wake." It was a heinous sneer that had passed the man's lips. He then struck the raven-hair boy with the back of his hand. "Unless you wanna die, you better start listening better, kid."

The man had gray hair that was tied into a spiked pony-tail, reaching a little below the shoulders. Large glasses were staged at the arch of his nose and gray eyes—ones which were almost identical to his hair—beamed through. He sat on a dull, leather chair, his legs were stretched out and they crossed at the knees. Crossing his arms in an unruly fashion, he finally quirked his mouth once again.

"Now, go back to sleep."

The boy gave the most defiant scowl, his effort placed into not listening. No matter how much determination and strength he put into it his mind dreamed of resistance, his eyes slowly dulled and faded, eventually lulling closed once again.

The man let out a frustrated sigh and the annoyed expression that soured his worn face merely grew with the seconds. Picking up a radio, the man lazily took a stand and pressed the large black button.

"No. 451 is corrupt."

He waited for the reply.

...

...

...

She sits there, a comb running through her cherry blossom locks, and hums the soft tune of her lullaby.

"Hush now, my baby..." Her thumb runs across his cheek, eventually lulling into soft, sensual circles on his cheek bone. "...be still love, don't cry."

And, for the first time in ages, he manages to drift into a deep sleep—

free of nightmares.

...

...

**02.**

A long, hefty sigh was the only reply he had received.

Still irked from the boy's previous defiance, the man decided not to wait any longer than needed. He asked, "Permission to remove?"

The man on the other side of the radio mused, "He is efficient—"

"But, for lack of better term, _unstable_."

"—his eyes..." The sentence was lost in the speakers thoughts, drifting into some unknown territory.

"He may corrupt others."

The voice groaned, "Your permission is granted."

"Thank you sir—"

"Send him to Lab 719, they can remove his eyes."

The line cut off.

He then turned around to the boy once more.

"Open."

The boy's eyes warily opened.

"Now, follow." He muttered.

(raven locks tumbled upwards and a pair of—devilish, sadistic, horrifying—crimson, blood-soaked eyes formed into a deathly glare.)

"Hn." A grunt escaped past the boy's thin lips.

The guard fought the wonder—

(the boy stalked after him, just as he was told.)

—why the boy spoke without reason.

(he shook it off, the boy was merely corrupt.)

* * *

_Fly with me. QUICKLY!_

(bang. bang. bang.)

_She tumbles over rocks, the cliff mere inches away. _

(pant. pant...—BANG!)

_Her feet carry her and she makes her way off the ledge._

... ... ...

(THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!)

_fly_—

(splatter.)

_"SAKURA—!"_

(**END OF TRANSMISSION**)_  
_

—_with me.  
_

...

...

A boy sits there on the rickety swing. His ears perk as he listens to the soft, creaking noise that the rusty iron makes. Then, he looks up, examining the forming rain clouds. "And only in the springtime, have I truly seen your face."

He fades into the darkness.

...

...

**03.**

"No. 1178, trial 13 belongs to you in Lab 719." The voice rang through her ears.

Her green eyes opened and the pale, pink bangs rose to the slightest degree—signifying that she was listening.

"Yes!"

A radiant smile plastered onto her small face and she nodded with understanding. Clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, she began her small stride to the room for her next medical procedure.

("We must listen to 'Our Father', the one who has created our lives. We must continue our jobs, do as we're told—follow.")

* * *

His feet drifted in midair as his body sat limp on the cold, steel table.

(_step. step. step._)

His head was slouched with the rest of his body. The boy's eyes were as black as midnight, staring blankly at the blood-stained floor. His hair resembled that of a raven—each strand tumbled messily, forming in some unsystematic pattern which could defy gravity—as it covered his pale, worn face. Only a quirk that tugged downwards at the corner of his lips was visible.

The steps grew louder.

(_step. step. step._)

Her head held high, ready to take on any task that was thrown at her. But, when she entered the strangely cold room, something at the pit of her stomach lurched.

Her eyes widened to the slightest degree, but she did not understand why. She outstretched her right arm to push back one of her pink locks that had fallen onto her forehead. "Hello." She smiled and gave a small wave to the boy.

A silence greeted her.

(_step. step. step._)

She was standing at the table, a deep frown plastered on her lips. Her eyes had been blatantly staring at the medical utensils, each one used, dirty, contaminated.

(with blood of the previous corrupted.)

"Sakura..."

It was the first words spoken from the boy.

"...you don't have to do this."

Sakura stood in front of him, wearily she rose her hand to his cheekbone and gently stroked a bruise. Obvious confusion was present in her expression as she cautiously asked a question, "What is '_Sakura_'?"

A sigh surpassed his lips and he let his eyes lull into a slow close.

"...Hn."

The roseate-headed girl blinked several times and pursed her lips. Before speaking, her breath hitched.

(_Sakura. Sakura. Sakura._)

"Will you lie down on the table," She glanced down at the medical forms, "No. 451..—?"

He corrected her without hesitation, "Sasuke."

"...S-Sasuke..?"

"My name." Sasuke stated in a matter-of-fact tone, yet it sounded more harsh than anything.

"I don't...—I don't...understand." Sakura's eyes widened, her fingers clumsily tumbled sheet after sheet, flipping through pages after pages of the medical report. "It says "No. 451"... I've never heard of a '_Sasuke_'."

"Like you've never heard of Sakura?"

"W-What?"

Sasuke effortlessly pushed himself off of the metal table, landing gracefully in front of the petite girl. The raven-haired boy slouched, his head hovering mere inches away from her left ear. Raising his limp hands, he grabbed her hand which had previously stroked his cheek.

Sasuke noted how she flinched at the contact.

"Don't you remember..—?" Sasuke began, his fingers easily lifting her thin arm.

(her arm followed his guidance without resistance.)

"Re...member?"

He pressed her fingers against his cold cheeks one last time.

"Aa," Sasuke nodded, "the past...—"

...

...

...

"We are so close to being the same." She breathes into his ear. "But, we are so far apart."

He can't stand the thought of losing her, so he finally speaks the words—the ones will say over and over again.

"I'll protect you."

It was not only a promise.

It was a fact.

...

...

**04.**

Sakura beamed and wrinkled her nose in disgust.

(_sadness. confusion. trepidation._)

"I think you should sit back down on this table No. 451."

("—...our past?")

"—...you don't." Sasuke muttered under his breath, finishing off his sentence. However, the Uchiha ignored her instructions and brushed past her. "Tell me where to find Naruto." He demanded, pressing down the buttons on the door's lock.

"Naruto?"

Sasuke hissed when the light flashed red.

"And tell me the fucking password!"

(patience never was his key virtue.)

The girl still stood there, staring at Sasuke. Her eyes were filled with confusion, with comprehension, understanding—_trying_ to understand.

"Screw it." Sasuke cursed under his breath. "Just come with me."

Sakura opened her mouth to question—or maybe protest—what he was talking about, but was quickly hushed her by pressing the palm of his hand against her lips. "And just like before, you're going to be goddamn annoying, aren't you?"

"_Excuse me_?"

(for the shortest second, Sasuke could have sworn he saw that fire flash through her eyes like it used to.)

"No. 451—!"

"I _hate _repeating myself, Sakura. It's _Sa-su-ke_." He paused for the shortest second. "_-kun_."

"—...er...Sasuke-kun, where are we going?! I have to—I...I need to finish your surgery. I have to finish my job. I can't disappoint—"

"Che. _Weak_."

She must not have heard it, because no response was given. The pounding of her feet against the cool concrete reverberated off the enclosed walls.

"No—Sasuke-kun, I don't understand what is going on."

"...Hn."

"What..?"

"Just shut up and take me to Naruto."

"But—I _don't _know a Naruto!"

He glowered at her ignorance and sent a small glare. "Blond-haired, blue-eyed, stupid, loud, obnoxious."

(**Memory**. . . . —_Processing_— . . . . —_Processing_— . . . . )

Sakura closed her eyes, envisioning the brief, but simple descriptions. "...Does he have whiskers?"

"Aa." Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"He's in the testing cell NO. 288." Sakura stated diligently, her voice sounded resembled a robot's.

(_dead. dead. dead._)

A moment of silence ran between them.

Sakura figure he must have been thinking of a way to—

"Follow my directions."

Sasuke grabbed her by the wrist and tossed her against the wall to the right. Sakura let out a gasp of pain, but Sasuke clamped a hand over her mouth in time to hitch any protests she was about to make. He then buried his head into the nape of her neck, and his body pressed against hers successfully closing any gap that had previously been between them.

...

...

...

Her soul is unseen as she stands before him. She can only watch as a stream of continual tear drops free fall onto her limp, lifeless body.

It's the whisper in the wind.

"And, I will be your downfall."

...

...

**05. **

The only breath that she heard was the warm one that tickled her bare flesh.

(a blush was forming onto her alabaster skin.)

"Someone's coming."

-

-

-

(**Memory**. . . . —_Processing_— . . . . —_Processing_— . . . . —_Processing_— . . . . —**DATA CORRUPTED!**)

* * *

**A/N:** Weird, I know right? It's interesting to write though.

**Reviews make me write. (:**

**P.S.** - (Isn't my new screen name, simply FANTABULOUS? :D)

EWHH its Kenna


	2. Simplicia

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO.**

* * *

_-_

_-_

_&sin with me;_

_-  
_

...

(thump. thump. thump.)

...

...

_Mesh our bodies.  
Entwine our fingers.  
Lock our lips.  
All for us.  
All for us._

...

...

(thump. thump. thump.)

...

_We will find our freedom. _

...

...

(more. more. more.)

...

...

**BRAVE NEW WORLD**

...

...

_&remember our past._

...

...

Clouds draped the once pastel blue sky.

...

_-&-_

...

"This is where our lives will change forever."

* * *

"Moan."

It was a quick and quiet demand that he had muffled into the nape of her neck.

She stifled a short response. "W-What—?!"

Before she could speak any further, she let out a gasp of pain. Her emerald eyes tried to look down to see what he had just done, but his raven-hair had obscured her view. Sasuke forced her hands to drape around his neck and one on his arm.

Sasuke let out a loud grunt.

"Who's there?"

The footsteps rang louder in her ears and she began to see the silhouette of the figure. The man must have heard the noise that both Sakura and Sasuke had made, for he stopped mid-step, gave a peculiar glance in their direction, and began moving the other way.

The last thing she could hear from him was: "Probably about time I should get laid again too."

She almost sighed in disappointment when she felt the warmth secede from her body, but her breath hitched when she saw his glare.

After a long silence gathered throughout the room, Sakura managed to stutter out the first accusations that came to mind.

"You _bit _me!"

"I told you to follow my directions." Sasuke hissed, his tone lathered with venom. "Next time: _no questions_."

Sensing the unsubtle hint that lingered in his voice, she vigorously nodded her head; she didn't know what the boy in front of her was capable of.

"H-How did you know he was coming?"

She noted how he lapped the droplets of blood that had speckled onto his lips and she shivered with fear and disgust.

"Hn."

It was the only reply she received and at that moment, it was the only reply she wanted.

...

...

...

He sits there in the chair, restraint and drugged, and his head tilts to an awkward angle; his onyx eyes remain set on the shaking girl. Suddenly, his lips quirk into a sinister smirk and he then drawls, "You're mine, only mine."

She continues to cry for him.

You see, he is lost in the abyss of his own mind—

he is forgetting.

...

...

**06. **

He began stalking off the other way, stopping only once to make sure she was still following him. When he met her eyes, he caught her tepid stare. "Come on." Sasuke muttered, beckoning her in his direction with his left hand.

She beamed. "Why?"

It was a reasonable question.

"Why should I come with you?" She asked again, "I have nothing to do with you. I have a job to do—to surgically remove—"

"...my eyes." Sasuke finished off. His voice was neither cold nor distant, just languid.

"Yes." Sakura nodded, "So can you please just let me finish my job, No. 451."

"You're so goddamn annoying!" Sasuke growled. He stomped up to her and his hand gripped around her forearm in a vice-like grip. "You're _Sakura_, I'm _Sasuke_, we're saving _Naruto_, and I'm saving y_ou_."

"S...Saving—...me?"

"Tch."

She could have sworn she saw him roll his eyes.

"I don't _understand_! Saving me from _what_?" Sakura growled, flailing her arms into the air. "_Please_, help me understand this No. 4—Sa-Sasuke...kun!"

He continued dragging her towards the elevator.

"I can't."

It was a fact—

"I can't help you understand." Sasuke glowered, "I don't even understand it."

—and he wished it wasn't.

"I can only remember."

She pursed her lips and stared at him. Her eyes were examining his composure and she knit her brows in apparent concentration. "I'll..." She was hesitant with her decision, but something encouraged her to spit out the rest of her answer. "...I'll trust you."

It was something in the back of her mind, the bottom of her heart, the swell of her breasts, and the pit of her stomach that told her she could trust him—

Sasuke snorted. "I never said you had to trust me."

"Isn't it worth something though?"

He mused as he watched the elevator continually rise up to their floor.

Shoving her hand against the monitor, Sasuke forced her to let the scanner examine her palm. After a light blue, line of light passed over her hand and disappeared, the elevator came to a halt and the doors creakily slid open.

"Possibly."

* * *

It resembled a jail cell.

He stared impassively at the blood smears and acted like there was no foul stench—the one of blood and decomposition and vomit and strange chemicals and sickness and death. His cerulean orbs blinked dubiously, ready to catch even the slightest movement within a hundred yard radius. His teeth grinding against once another—when was the last time he had his drugs?

"Fuck!" He cursed. He balled his hands into tight fists and aimed a ready punch to the wall to his right—

He suddenly stopped when he heard the softest footsteps penetrate his silence.

"Sakura-chan..?" His tone blatant with hope.

(the name he called every time he heard any footsteps.)

The said girl stood in front of the barred cell, her fingers shaking as she touched the rusty metal. But, she said nothing.

(she did not know—_remember _his name.)

A sudden spark ran through the blond-haired boy's body, euphoric.

"Sakura-chan!" He screamed with pure bliss, "What happened? Where did you go? Are you alright?! Do you know what's—?" His bombardment of questions automatically stopped when he saw a pair of devil's eyes hovering next to Sakura's figure.

"Y...You bastard." He mustered. "You finally decided to come back to us..?"

For a moment, there was an awkward silence that passed throughout the room.

"Aa." Sasuke met no ones gaze, but continued to stare at the ground below. Sasuke pressed his forefingers to her shoulder blade, effortlessly shoving her towards the large lock that centered the cell. "Open the door for him."

Sasuke cocked a brow when the door did not automatically unlock at his command.

He repeated his demand with perceivable annoyance, "Sakura, open the door."

She was frozen.

...

...

...

He could always make her promises and he would always die trying to keep them. So, when the boy brushes a strand of pink locks from her tear-stained face—

he softly breathes it.

"He'll come back."

Except, he knows he can't promise this one.

...

...

**07.**

(_Initializing sequence_ . . .** DEACTIVATED**.)

"N-No..! I...I can't!" She shook her head in disgust. "Th...They say he's dangerous." Sakura stuttered.

Sasuke noticed how Naruto's once brightening blue eyes begin to dull once again.

"Sakura-chan...What are you talking about?" Naruto whispered, "I'd never hurt you."

Naruto's fingers were lightly grazing the bar that was closest to Sakura, only once did they brush against Sakura's own fingers. "I'd _never _hurt you." Naruto breathed again, his voice was flooded with so much love and sadness and need and the promises that have always lingered.

Sakura frowned.

"E-Emotions...—Emotions make us..._weak_." She mumbled, "I can't...I can't betray everyone."

"He can..." Naruto muttered under his breath, pointing at Sasuke.

Sasuke shrugged apathetically, "It gets easier each time."

Sasuke grabbed her trembling hand and forced it into a full open. He gave her a questioning look when he noticed there were no keys inside. "What the hell?" Sasuke growled. "Where the fuck are the keys?!"

(her ears were continuing to fill with all the different moans and groans of every other test subject in the room.)

Sakura's green eyes darted throughout the room and she let out a piercing scream. She tried her best to plug her ears; but, Sasuke still had a strong grip on her hands, forcing her to endure the screaming, the abhorrent stench, and the current decision she had to make.

"STOP IT!" Sakura screamed—she _begged_. "STOP IT, PLEASE!"

Sasuke's free hand shot up to her chin and forced her to stare into his eyes. "You said you trusted me."

"NO!" She shook her head furiously and resumed trying to break free of his hold, "N-NO...—LET GO!"

Naruto could only watch from inside his small chamber as the rivers of tears flowed down her cheek and fell swiftly to the contaminated floor, mixing with the blood and gruel and sweat and tears of the countless others.

(those tears he had see so many times.)

"Sakura..." Sasuke reiterated, his tone cool and calm. "You said, _you trusted me_."

Incoherent words flooded her mouth and she slightly nodded her head.

"Open the door." He dictated again, his hands guiding her fingers back to the cell bars. He looked around, feeling slightly awkward, and muttered under his breath, "I will protect you."

She looked at him, disbelief present in her glazed, emerald eyes.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto begged, "Please, I want to _hug _you again...—I want to help protect you."

Sasuke scowled and glared at Naruto.

"...I promise." Sasuke grunted.

Sakura blinked and gripped the metal bars.

"For you." She breathed, her tone wavering with horror and doubt.

Her eye sight slowly opaqued and the numbers filtered into her head. Her emerald eyes dashed back and forth, examining the thousands of numbers that passed by her. Slowly, she began to eradicate the useless combination's for all the other test subjects and heighten the probability of suitable choices for—

(What was his name again..?)

...

...

...

Rain falls hard into the puddles and each droplet makes her skin burn. She then muses over her situation and decides—

—her tears sting more.

"I don't want you to protect me anymore, if it means I'll be a single day without you."

...

...

**08.**

(**Memory**. . . . —_Processing_— . . . . —_Processing_— . . . . —_Processing_— . . . . —**PREVIOUS DATA ACQUIRED!**)

It flashed.

(too many things flashed to be more precise.)

"Na...ru...to." She breathed out, her world fading black.

But, the last thing she remembered was the sharp prick against the back of her bare neck and the fading yells of Sasuke and Naruto.

* * *

_Press your body against mine. Please_—

(thump. thump. thump.)

_She moans and tangles her fingers through his raven locks. _

(pant. pant. PANT!)

_Their hearts are beating simultaneous_ly, _they're connected as one._

... ... ...

(THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!)

_She's on the edge._

(BREATH!)

_anything—_

(gasp. gasp. GASP!)

_"SA-SASUKE-KUN!" _

(**END OF TRANSMISSION**)

_—for you._

_

* * *

_

"...Sa-su...ke-kun..—!"

The moment her emerald eyes shot open, she greeted a similar pair of onyx eyes.

"Sa...Sasuke..." The suffix hitched in her breath.

(...kun?)

"Hello, No. 1178." He spoke with a rich and velvety tone, his tongue clicking on the last numeral.

Sakura's eyes wearily worked their way through her surroundings.

It was a small, cylindrical room. Every inch of the walls and flooring was made of a midnight black stone. Her green orbs lifted up to see how high the chamber was, by the time she counted approximately twenty stone blocks, she gave up. It reminded her of a tower. A tower with its floors smothered with liquid.

(the blood of previous victims.)

She could make out the idea that there were objects that were spontaneously lying on the floor, but they were merely silhouettes. Not enough light was present in the room to see anything more than any figure's contour.

"Who...?" She whispered, still not comprehending the situation. "...Sasuke-kun."

A beam of light flashed through the room for the shortest second, showing the man's brows arched and a smirk playing on his thin lips. Slowly, he began his walk up to Sakura, his lips falling slightly ajar. "No. 1178," He spoke with ease and clarity, "it seems you know my _brother_."

"Sasuke-kun?" She asked, she tried to bring her hands to reach out and touch his pale face. She wanted to make sure it was him, but nothing could be proved. "W-What happened?" She asked, a pout formed onto her lips. "I don't remember."

A soft chuckle filled the room.

"Aa, you don't." He agreed with obvious amusement.

"Sasuke-kun...you promised me and...—and I did it."

She groaned when she felt his warmth bit by bit abdicate.

She tried to move her hands again to touch him, but to no avail. A frustrated huff escaped her plump, vermilion lips when she realized that her hands were bound to the wall. "Mou, let me down, Sasuke-kun." She moaned.

She gave a few more tugs to try and free her hands.

(she _had _to feel his skin!)

"I don't think I can let you out...Sakura, was it?"

She felt his fingers playing at the hem of her red shirt and she shivered. "Mmm." She nodded, "You said it was Sakura."

"And what exactly did you do, Sakura?" He asked, her shirt was slowly rising up as his fingers continued to slowly tickle up and down her curves.

"I..."

(she couldn't remember.)

His fingers had reached her neck and a deep frown of disapproval appeared. "He bit you?"

"You bit me." Sakura nodded. "Sasuke-kun...—No. 451 bit me."

"Hn." He grunted, a disdainful expression present on his flawless face.

"Let me out of these chains," she implored, "_please_!"

With his free hand, he slowly tucked his forefingers under her chin and raised it up until their noses were centimeters apart. "And why should I?"

"I want—_need _to touch you, No. 451." She whined, "I-I... I need to _touch _you, Sasuke-kun."

The man let an insane smirk appear and his tongue darted out of his mouth, slowly licking his lips. "It's a shame...that I am _not _your precious Sasuke-kun." He whispered his hot breath into the shell of her ear, earning a mewl in response.

"I..."

She blinked, misconceiving.

His smirk merely grew and he picked up the syringe of green-tinged liquid. Taking another moment to think about his previous decision on the drug, he changed his mind—

(this may just be his favorite drug.)

"I..._need _to touch you."

...

...

...

He softly sets her onto the bed, taking a moment to examine every wakening detail of her naked body. In every second he takes, he never once realizes how his breath hitches in the back of his throat.

She is almost angelic.

"...Sasuke-kun?" She drawls softly.

Almost.

...

...

**09.**

Naruto couldn't remember how long he was running for and whether or not the guards were still following, but he insisted on slinging Sasuke to the closest wall. "You BASTARD!" Naruto hissed, throwing a punch towards Sasuke's abdomen.

At the moment of impact, Sasuke forced himself to resist the urge to vomit up whatever gruel he had the previous day. The Uchiha tried shoving Naruto's hand off his collar; however, he was unsuccessful.

"T-THEY TOOK SAKURA-CHAN!"

"I saved you, moron." Sasuke muttered, this time he had seen the upcoming punch and dodged it with ease. After taking a moment to wait for Naruto to slow down on his attacks, he finally shrugged, "Isn't that enough?"

"NOT IF SAKURA-CHAN IS HURT IN THE PROCESS!" Naruto growled.

Naruto finally gave up, letting his grip on Sasuke's collar loosen. Sasuke took the opportunity and pushed Naruto off of him with a scowl, "There is never any pleasing either of you."

"You _promised _to protect her...—she _trusted y_ou!" Naruto screamed flailing his arms up in the air. Blatant distress was present on his face, he was worried—what was going to happen to her? what were they going to do to her? where did they take her?—

(he had just found her, and in the same moment, he had just lost here—again.)

He scoffed, "That was her mistake, she trusted me."

A nostalgic breath surpassed Naruto's lips and his cerulean eyes stare solemnly at the stone ground. Sniffing the grotesque air once more, he meets Sasuke's eyes.

"You have a knack for betrayal."

And somewhere in the back of his mind, Sasuke wished that Naruto had a knack for lying.

...

...

...

"And who is this, Sasuke?"

The little boy blushes and looks down while the pink-headed girl follows, shyly hiding behind him. Gathering her courage, she finally announces the first words, "I'm Sakura."

(she is still hiding her face in the crook of the boy's neck.)

"We're going to get married." Sasuke states in a matter-of-fact tone and he grabs her hand, smiling. "And, you're going to be my best man!"

Itachi laughs, for the first time in ages.

"You're only seven."

...

...

**10. **

"Don't you understand?!" Naruto flailed his arms in the air, completely upset. "Did you not see the people when you _ran _from Sakura?"

"You ran from her too." Sasuke pointed out and shook his head, "Am I supposed to care?"

Naruto fidgeted and slanted his eyes.

"Those were your goddamn brother's lackeys."

A sinister expression twisted onto the Uchiha's face and his eyes bled into a crimson red.

(the color of the blood of his countless prey.)

"_What_?"

* * *

**A/N:** Gangster cool, ain't it? I totally told you so, Becca. I actually DO have chapters that are already written. :D

**Reviews make me write. (:**

EWHH its Kenna


	3. Asphyxia

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO.**

* * *

...

-&-

Trust me.

...

...

(thump. thump. thump.)

...

...

_Understand me.  
Teach me.  
Protect me.  
Save me._

_...  
_

_I want to memorize:  
every inch of you.  
__I want to learn:__  
every curve, every crevice, every scar._

_..._

_..._

_I want you. I want you. I want you.  
_

...

...

**Breath. Breath. BREATH!**

...

_I want to trust you, so much._

_So much.  
_

...

...

(more. more. more.)

...

_&find ourselves;_

...

(drip. drip. drip.)

...

He is hesitant when he pressed his forehead against her breast—

her beating heart.

But, the tears still silently fell down.

...

_-&-_

...

"I'm sorry."

* * *

He forced her lips onto his and dug the syringe deeper into her jugular.

"Remember what you were taught:—"

(_Initializing sequence_ . . .** ACTIVATED**.)

Sakura's breath hitched and she felt his tongue delve into the crevice of her mouth.

(**Breathing **. . . . ERROR!** Vital signs** . . . . ERROR!)

Each moment.

Each second.

She greedily parted her lips, trying to suck in any oxygen that the limited space would grant her. He took the moment to successfully close even the smallest gap that could provide her with air and then sadistically grinned against her lips.

She groaned and her breaths grew more ragged, more desperate. Sakura let out a cry into his mouth when she felt his smug smirk against her warm, perspiring skin. "Sas..." She tried to pull back from him, but the wall behind her merely held her steady in her place. She pouted and shook her head away from him, "...No. 451, I-I can't _breathe_."

He ignored her and pressed on.

"St-Stop, please." She moaned in pain.

"—We are one, No. 1178. We belong to everyone." He whispered against her neck, leaving a trail of red marks the further he went. "You belong to me...You belong to everyone."

(except yourself.)

He then retreated back to her mouth, tossing the empty syringe to the side. He listened to it fall to the ground with a small _clink _and then finally shatter into hundreds of tiny fragments.

(just like her—memory, mind, and body.)

"You belong to everyone, _except _the corrupted."

* * *

—

-

-

**BRAVE**

**NEW**

**WORLD**

-

-

—

* * *

...

...

...

She hugs him and cries into his back, while the demon that is no longer hidden sneers at her.

"GO AWAY!"

She gives her answer, the one she has reiterated numerous times: "I will never leave you."

And he is crying inside—

because he will be her death.

...

...

**11.**

(**Breathing **. . . . FIXING!** Vital signs** . . . . FIXING!)

Sasuke stared blankly down at the pink-headed girl on the ground, the slightest presence of confusion in his eyes. Shrugging off the premonition—why was she just lying _here_?—and all the suspicious thoughts, Sasuke bent down and set his forefingers on her neck.

"She's alive." Sasuke breathed. After a moment of staring at the girl's state, he then turned to Naruto and said, "Stop worrying now—you'll give away our positions."

"Shut up, bastard!" Naruto growled. "This is all your fault to begin with, if you didn't break your promise—"

"Shut up, _now_."

Sasuke's eyes continued to examine the girl thoroughly for any marks that weren't there from their previous encounter. He begrudgingly noted the many red marks that her neck sustained as well as the small hole at the corner of her jugular. He mumbled a few words to himself, but they went unheard.

"They must have done something." Sasuke then stated aloud, but to no one directly.

"How do you know?" Naruto asked in a hurried tone, "Why can't you just accept the fact that somethings can be easy?"

"Because nothing ever _is_ easy!"

Sasuke shot a glare at Naruto for being so _incompetent_ and reached out to heave the petite girl up.

His hand, inches away from her arm, abruptly stopped in mid-air when her eyes shot open. Her hand automatically reached out to his and gripped it with a strong force as she parted her lips.

"**PIN:** 001928492."

Sasuke frowned, "Sakura?"

Her eyes shut.

"**SERIAL NUMBER:** 0023.10003.41.223341."

Green eyes blinked open once again, but they stared at Sasuke with an unknown gaze. "Please, No. 451—Stay away." She stated in a distant voice, the slightest hint of fear lingered in her tone. "I am not allowed to be near the _corrupted_."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out, rushing to her aide.

She blinked again.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and, by instinct, reached out to throw her off of him.

(**WARNING!:** **PRODUCT NUMBER:** 9234120; **DATA FILES LOST!**)

"Sasuke-kun." She drawled and grabbed the hand that was reaching out towards her. "I need you inside of me, _now_."

Sakura tugged once again and Sasuke, taken by surprise, tumbled gracelessly towards her. Sasuke began panicking when he felt her hands slowly trailing up and down his chest; however, he was on the verge of horror when he felt them spontaneously tumble across his abdomen, to the hem of his pants.

"Sa-Sakura!" Sasuke yelled, jumping up as quick as one would when touching ice.

(**SCANNING NOW!**)

She didn't respond for a while.

(**SCANNING NOW!**)

"Sasuke-kun," she said, "I think I'm broken."

(he has considered this factor for longer than she could ever imagine.)

Sasuke scoffed, "Broken? Stop being so ann—" He stopped mid-speech when he heard that familiar, dark chuckle flood the hallway and noticed how the minimal lighting that was once present, disperse completely.

A frown plastered onto his lips and he made sure Sakura was behind him.

"Whatever happens," Sasuke muttered, this time truth radiating in his every word. "I'll protect you."

But, this time—

(Sasuke watched as Naruto retreated to Sakura's side as well, promising that same lie.)

—she knew, in the end, it wouldn't happen.

...

...

...

He asks her to trust him.

Pressing her cold lips against his, her fading hands on top of his, and her barely moving chest against his as well—

she gathers the last of her strength to finally reply.

"I'm sorry, but in the end, I know, every promise becomes a lie."

...

...

**12.**

"NARUTO, SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura screamed. She watched as both Sasuke and Naruto had completely disappeared into the darkness before her.

(she was alone, _again_.)

"N-No, p-please..." She breathed.

She stabilized herself by leaning against the large wall behind her, resting her head back, and her knees against her chest. She breathed in deeply and pressed a hand against her forehead. She had too much pain—a head ache, a stomach ache, her heart was throbbing against her chest, and now it especially hurt—she flushed and cringed—..._down there_. She bit her lip and shook her head. "Don't l-leave me alone again."

She was so used to being alone—

(in this new world)

—that the idea of having someone there...

(she has grown dependent.)

...it was comforting.

"SASUKE-KUN!" She screamed, pressing the palms of her hands against her ears.

(it was throbbing, her entire body!)

...

...

...

"If you leave me..."

He takes a deep breath, the crisp air stings his lungs and the pounding rain makes his veins throb.

"...I'll die."

...

...

**13.**

Her hands were pulled apart when she was jostled up by the said, pale boy. "Idiot, don't just sit there!" He hissed, quickly swooping a hand underneath her knees and one under her neck. Adjusting their position in the quickest and most graceful movements, he finally gave one last look behind him—those red eyes bleeding into the midnight black surroundings—and sprinted off in the opposite direction.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled into his chest; but, instead of a reply the Uchiha merely put a hand on the crown of her head and pushed her deeper into his chest.

(she could feel the small, fast beats of his heart.)

"Shut up." Sasuke hushed her, a warning hidden behind his haste.

"B-But, Naruto!"

Sakura sulked confused and ignorant. She shakily wrapped her hands around his neck and dug her face into the nape of his neck. "I'm scared..." She breathed against his skin.

When she received no reply, she merely assumed he didn't hear her.

"W-What's going on?" Sakura asked as she tried to pull her head away from his naked skin.

Sasuke frowned in disapproval at her antics, but abruptly stopped. "Shut up." He mumbled. He set her down, giving a swift up-down glance to make sure she could fend for herself if need be and looked at the wall next to him.

"Where is the closest exit to this building?"

"...What?"

He glowered and frantically looked back. "The exit, where the _hell _is it?"

She blinked.

(green eyes dulled and a slow flash slowly circulates every other second.)

Parting her lips, she finally replied, "The next exit is 1400 yards left on the 1st floor."

Sasuke scowled at once. "We don't have that kind of ti—..." His vermilion eyes had set upon a large window. "...Sakura,—"

Said girl looked up and stared absently into his orbs, lost in their abyss. "Where is Naruto?"

"—do you trust me?"

"What..?" She paused to contemplate her answer, "Why—?"

Before she could get the chance to receive his reply, she was swept off her feet and flying directly towards a window—in the arms of the raven-haired boy who now began the ticking to her very own corruption.

...

...

...

He sits there and watches from a far distance; yet, nonetheless, he is there.

"She was my best friend." He hears the blond boy's words flow with such grace, such elegance.

(something he lost long ago.)

But, suddenly the grace is gone and he forces himself to choke out the rest of his eulogy: "And I will always love her."

And from the proximity he is at, he can see their tears—

but he knows they cannot see his.

...

...

**14.**

She screamed into his back in horror as they came closer and closer to the ground. The speed of gravity had pulled her so fast, she didn't have time to comprehend anything that had happened from the moment they were outside of the building. But, she did notice one thing.

Above, standing at the window, was the same man she had previously seen. There was an obvious smirk plastered on his thin lips and she tried to hold in her continual screams.

Why couldn't she understand any of this?

"Shut up!" Sasuke growled, pinching her jaw with his large hand.

Sakura flushed and clamped her mouth closed, the tears that were forming at the corner of her eyes disappeared abruptly.

At the same moment as Sakura squinted her eyes to see what the man above—that one that looked so much like Sasuke—was holding in his right hand, Sasuke had landed with a surprising grace she never knew possible. Just as quickly as they had jumped from the building to the ground, did he begin a fast sprint to the forest.

Within minutes, the Uchiha stopped, turned his head, and his red eyes beamed to their previous location. "That moron, they're gonna be sending a team soon."

Sakura pressed her forehead into the crook of his neck and let her arms remain hooked around his head. "I want to understand everything Sasuke-kun. I'm tired of being confused."

"Deal with it." Sasuke scoffed, finally turning back towards the many trees and shooting into a sprint.

"I want to...uh..._remember _was it?" She paused for a minute. "I want to _remember _everything."

Sasuke's eyes were staring blankly at the ground as he continued to run. A long silence had greeted Sakura before the boy finally parted his lips. His tongue slowly brushed his bottom lip and he gave a small cough.

"Shut up." He breathed. "It doesn't matter."

"It matters to me!" Sakura huffed, her head flinging back so she could stare at his eyes. "It..." She was hesitant at the sight of those onyx eyes, those similar ones she had seen no more than 24-hours ago. "I-Its...It's important..." Her breath hitched again.

("You belong to everyone, _except _yourself.")

...

...

...

"Anything." He breathes softly into her ear, "Anything you want."

She smiles and presses her lips against his neck—the furthest her strength could will her to go.

"Only you..." She whispers warmly, "...only you."

"You can do better than that." He frowns, poking her lightly on the forehead. His shoulders tense, because he realizes that now, he can't deny her anything—

She shrugs, "I'm more than content with my choice."

—including himself.

...

...

**15.**

"It's important...to _me_."

* * *

_Please, help me breathe. Please—_

(thump. thump. thump.)

_Her breaths are growing more ragged, blood-filling each greedy gasp._

(gasp. gasp. GASP!)

_She is trying to reach for his face, to feel his skin once more._

... ... ...

(THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!)

_She feels his cold skin, his cold lips._

(BREATH!)

_please—_

(...breath...breath...breath.)

_"Help...me."_

(**END OF TRANSMISSION**)

_—fix me._

_

* * *

_

Sasuke sighed when he finally leaned against the tree's bark, his body slowly sliding down against it. "You are a smart girl." Sasuke muttered.

Her face brightened and an awkward, radiant smile plastered onto her vermilion lips. "Thank—!"

"It's not a compliment." He snapped quickly before she could actually think that he would _compliment _her.

"It's merely a given fact."

He eyed her suspiciously when he noticed that she didn't automatically lose her smile and the new composure. She blinked and her gaze rose until her emerald eyes met with his onyx ones.

"So why did you save me—from whatever it is?" She questioned.

It was _still _a reasonable question.

He sighed, she really couldn't just accept his attempts to _help _her without a hundred thousand questions.

(ones which he didn't have a single answer for.)

"It is essential to save you, by the means of—...saving ourselves from this shit-hole government we're living in." He stated simply, "You are one of the keys vital to their system. Without you in general, your granted intelligence, the perfect chakra control you possess—"

She cut him off. "Chakra..?"

Sasuke growled inwardly and rolled his eyes, apparent annoyance was shown in his facial expression. It was like debating with a 5-year old, one with no background of education, about ethics.

"Aa." He sighed and just dropped the entire subject automatically. "But, none of this is important. We just have to get you to Tsunade—she's the only one who has to ability to try and fix your corrupted data."

She blinked.

"So, I am broken..."

He didn't reply for a while, it wasn't exactly like he owed her a reply, but finally he managed out a single reply: "Hn." And, when Sakura's ears perked at his small grunt, she was not able to tell whether he agreed or he also was unsure—or _both_.

And for some odd reason—

(she watched his chest heave up and down for ten more minutes until she finally brought her vociferous gaze to the moonlit sky.)

Sasuke's eyes remained set upon her, watching her surprisingly _innocent _facade play upon her face.

(it was the first moon—_sky_, she could ever remember seeing. it was the first breath of fresh air she could ever remember taking. it was the first feeling she could ever remember having.)

—she assumed the latter.

(anticipation.)

* * *

**A/N:** Pimping. Fo sho. :D

**Reviews make me write. (:**

EWHH its Kenna


	4. Choroideremia

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO.**

* * *

...

-&-

**Destroy me.**

-&-

...

...

(thump. thump. thump.)

...

...

_Touch my hand,  
Place it against my throat.  
Close your eyes,  
And never let go._

_..._

_I want the last thing I see,  
That last thing I touch,  
I want the last thing that I taste._

_I want it all to end with you.  
_

_..._

_..._

_I'll take you. I'll steal you. I'll destroy you. _

_For you. For you.—_

_...  
_

—_For me._

...

...

**Breath. Breath. BREATH!**

...

_I need more than you. _

...

...

(more. more. more.)

...

_&destroy ourselves;  
_

...

(drip. drip. drip.)

...

Her fingers are tapping an unsystematic rhythm against the mahogany desk, her lips are fumbling gracelessly while she thinks of a reply, and her dilated eyes are continuing to dart back and forth, back and forth.

...

_-&-_

...

"Happily ever after?"

* * *

**BRAVE **

.&.**  
**

**N**

**E**

**W**

.&.**  
**

** WORLD**

* * *

Sasuke sat there with his hand reluctantly weaved through the girl's cotton-candy pink hair. "Will you calm down?" He asked, highly annoyed. His eyes followed Naruto's obnoxious habit—walking around and worrying.

"How is she?" The tone was filled to the brim with worriment. Naruto ran his fingers roughly through his blond locks and continued to pace back and forth in front of the two. "Sasuke—_damnit_! How is she?!"

Sasuke, who was at the moment blatantly staring at the sleeping girl, reverted his gaze back to Naruto. "She'll be fine. She's sleeping, idiot."

"_Fuck_!" Naruto screamed in agony, tearing at his hair. "Are you _sure_?"

"She looks fine." Sasuke reiterated, but suddenly a question arose. "What the hell are you so worried about?"

"Itachi." Naruto muttered, his eyes scrunching, closing, then slowly opening once again. "Fuck!"

Sasuke glanced both directions and yelled "Shut up, you'll give away our position if there are any guards—!"

"Fuck this!" Naruto screamed, throwing his arms quickly into the air. The boy's pupils were dilating, narrowing into a thin line in the center of his cerulean pools. "He _got _me!" Naruto growled. "He got me with the fucking serum."

...

...

...

She lies on the table, unable to move. She can only lie there and watch as the man comes closer and closer—with that long needle.

She hears a scream: "NO!"

A chuckle escapes the man's mouth—the man which is inserting the needle into her arm.

The black haired boy screws his pride and begs, "Kill me instead."

And that is when the tears begin to flow freely from her eyes, when the man actually listened—

"How about: I kill you _both_."

...

...

**16.**

Sasuke's eyes slanted. "_What_?"

"That's why I'm like this!" Naruto huffed with a frustrated scowl plastered on his face. "It's an addicting drug, _Orpheum_...or something. _I don't know_! But, _fuck_ it's so goddamn _addicting_." Naruto's hands were tugging harder on his hair, a few strands flew against the crisp breeze.

Unaware, Sasuke's hands tightened the slightest over Sakura's waist.

"He got her with it too." Naruto breathed. "He fucking got her too!"

"Are you _sure_?"

"UGH!" Naruto screamed. "He fucking _raped _her! God _dammit_!"

Sasuke bit back the urge to throw Naruto against a tree and bash his skull in.

(he _has_ to be lying.)

Sasuke held his composure and glared at Naruto, "Don't lie to me with this bullshit—!"

"BASTARD!" Naruto screamed. "STOP BEING IN GODDAMN DENIAL!"

Sasuke shook the girl off of him with ease and in lightning speed, Naruto was thrown against the closest tree. "Don't _fucking _lie to me about shit like this, moron!" Sasuke sneered with pure disgust. "Say it one more time, do it!"

Naruto paused, determining whether or not he should.

"Say it again. Do it!" Sasuke demanded, his hand creeping to the blond boy's neck adding more and more pressure. "I'll snap you're _fucking _neck and feed you to the vultures if you _dare _lie like that."

Naruto then suddenly burst out it laughter. "Haha—You call _me _a fucking idiot. Why the hell would I lie to you, bastard? You're _my _brother."

Sasuke's onyx eyes widened to the slightest degree. Realization—_truth_—was beginning to sink in.

"S-Sakura..?" Sasuke muttered. "Are you...sure?"

Sasuke's hand that remained set on Naruto's throat loosened half-heartedly and Naruto swiftly pushed it away. Letting his lungs catch up with the breaths he missed, Naruto was silent.

"As sure as I _can _be." Naruto nodded solemnly, "The only way to know for a fact—is to ask Sakura. But, I don't think that..."

They were interrupted.

"Ask _me_...?" It was a whisper, a breath. "Ask me what?"

Sasuke gave her a cold-shoulder and began walking the other way. He needed to cool off, anger and frustration and confusion and disgust and—everything. Emotions weren't going to help him save her.

Emotions weren't going to help him in any way, shape, or form.

"Go back to sleep." He commanded curtly and spontaneously his figure disappeared with a '_POOF!_'

...

...

...

He stands in front of her and looks at her, a determined expression remains on his worn face.

"No matter what happens—"

It hurts too, because she's already shaking and crying, breaking and dying.

"—we will always be together, all three of us."

She smiles and hugs him like she knows tomorrow was non-existent.

"Because that's what love is."

...

...

**17.**

Her emerald eyes met up with Naruto's cerulean ones, she then gave the boy a questioning look. Naruto softly sighed and walked up to the confused girl, "I've missed you—both—so much, Sakura." He mumbled, wrapping his arms around her neck.

He then embraces her in a hug—like it was the last time he would ever have the chance.

"He just needs to sort out his emotions." He said, hoping to soothe any possible distraught feelings she might have. "You did _nothing _wrong."

* * *

"We'll travel down this road for about another 1300 feet," Sasuke instructed, "then we'll take a right into the town that comes up." His eyes bled red and he examined every surrounding detail in front of him. Sasuke took a moment to glance at Sakura to make sure she was staying out of trouble—she was trying to catch a butterfly—_Tch_.

Naruto's face was apparent with confusion and his brows knit in concentration. "Why wouldn't we just head straight to baa-chan?"

"Idiot! Don't refer to her as _baa-chan_, she'll probably get drunk and refuse to help then." Sasuke growled, giving a light punch to Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto beamed. "Baa-chan wouldn't deny helping Sakura,—"

Sakura's eyes shot over to the two boy and her ears perked at the voicing of her name. When neither of the boys looked back at her, she shrugged it off, resuming her chase after that _enticing_, crimson butterfly.

"—she's like her daughter."

"Che. Whatever." Sasuke retorted in annoyance. "But, remember this," Sasuke warned, "I'll _kill_ you if you mess anything up."

"Bastard!" Naruto barked. "Like you could!"

The Uchiha raised a brow and scoffed. "In a heartbeat."

"You're ego's gotten even further up your ass than the last time." Naruto muttered under his breath, "You _seriously _need to get laid."

"_Shut up_, moron." Sasuke hissed, acid underlying every syllable.

"Sasuke-kun!"

The Uchiha spun on his right heel at the first cry of his name and his heart raced. In mere seconds, he had flashed before Sakura with his eyes narrowed. "Are you alright?"

She nodded, a beautiful smile was gracing her small face.

His onyx eyes narrowed further, suspicious growing with every second. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"Look!" Her pointer finger rose a foot or two, pointing to a small pug which was eagerly digging at the roots of a nearby tree. The dog neither noticed nor cared about the bystanders that surrounded him. "Isn't he cute!"

(it was supposed to be a question, but it turned into, moreover, a statement.)

Sasuke scoffed, "_Cute_?"

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto waved, finally making his way up to the two. "Whatcha got th—?" Naruto stopped mid-speech and tugged on Sasuke's sleeve.

...

...

...

She can feel his heartbeats slowly dying off into a different world—the one he said that didn't even existent.

"I l-love you...I love you so much!" She cries into his bloody shirt. "I love you with all my heart!"

He gives her a crooked, yet sincere smile.

(something she's never seen before.)

"You've already given me too much—more than everything."

It's the moan in their last kiss.

"Thank you."

...

...

**18.**

"Isn't that—"

"Hn." Sasuke nodded, "He's been waiting for the past half-hour behind the tree's over there." He then tilted his head in the said direction and gave a soft sigh, "I just haven't decided whether or not to visit."

"He'll want to hear her voice again...—at the least, let him die a happy man." Naruto choked.

After a moment of thought and hesitation, glancing at Sakura, then Naruto, then reverting back to Sakura once more, he finally agreed.

"Aa."

* * *

Several knocks on the bark of the tree permeated the forest. Naruto's fist met the tree's wood for the fourth time, hoping that this would get the man's attention. He looked at Sasuke and Sakura, sighed, and shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't even know we're—"

_POOF_!

"Yo!" A voice cut through and the man gave a wave.

Naruto grinned, "Kakashi-sensei!"

The man never once turned towards a specific direction; but, the smallest smile could be seen forming under his navy mask. "Naruto..." He mumbled, running his forefingers over his temple. "...I never thought I'd hear your voice again."

"I know, took the bastard long enough." Naruto commented with a snort.

"Sasuke's here too?"

A long pause greeted everyone.

"Aa..." Sasuke's onyx eyes darted towards Sakura and sighed, "...and Sakura."

Sakura tilted her head and gave a confused look when she saw how the older man was trembling. "A-Are you alright?"

"I'm...glad." Kakashi whispered, snapping his fingers.

The small dog from before ran swiftly to the silver-haired man. "Yeah?" The dog spoke.

"That dog SPEAKS?!" Sakura shouted, completely astound.

The dog turned towards her and gave her a quick up and down. "Most summons do."

Kakashi's head finally hung down to where the dog was sitting patiently waiting his next command. Letting out a small breath, one which resembled relief and exasperation, Kakashi finally waved his hand at the pug. "Your job is done, Pakkun..." The smile was obvious on his mask and there was the smallest glaze was forming over his visible, lazy eye. "...I've found what I was looking for."

"Kakashi-sensei, there's something I have to warn you about—" Naruto began, there was no need of getting his (former) teacher's hopes up.

"She doesn't remember." Kakashi stated with a sad and knowing voice. "That's what happens when you're captured."

"Kakashi-sensei...—"

Kakashi shook his head, "No need to call me that Naruto. I'm not your teacher anymore—it makes me sound old too."

"But, you look old!" Sakura interjected, a small giggle following after.

The man rose a brow and frowned. "Sakura, I'm offended. You used to have a gigantic crush on me—courtesy of my undeniably good looks."

"Crush?"

Kakashi nodded, "I guess everything has changed though."

"Have I changed?" Sakura asked, looking down at her body and slowly twirling around once.

...

...

...

He places his trembling fingers over the picture frame, tracing each one of his students with quick and excellent precision.

"Take a good look..." The voice demands behind him, patting him on the shoulder.

And, he does. He memorizes every waking detail of each student, because he doesn't want to forget.

He won't forget.

"...for that's the last time you'll ever be able to see them."

He thanks whatever he can for this picture.

Because this is the only family he has.

...

...

**19.**

A long sigh escaped from Kakashi's mouth, while a deep frown came as well.

Slowly raising his head back up to face Sakura's twirling body and radiant smile, he spoke with sadness and regret. "I can't tell you, Sakura."

"Why not?" Sakura pouted, curiosity engraved on her expression. She then placed her hands on her hips as she waited for the man to reply. Kakashi could only thank himself for wearing a mask that covered his lips; else wise, they would have been able to see how his lips were fumbling violently along with the small, choked gasp for air.

"I..." Kakashi's teeth sunk deeply into his lip.

Naruto and Sasuke bit back a quick explanation, it was something Kakashi himself had to say.

"...I'm blind."

* * *

Kakashi gave a curt nod to his former students. "Tsunade has been hiding recently." He said. "I can't tell you whether or not she is using one of her age jutsus, so I can't give you a description." He lets his head lull onto the tree bark bringing him to face the darkening sky. "Kindle the fire more, Sakura."

"O-OK." Sakura nodded, coming to a quick stand, she walked over to the small bonfire that was set-up and began poking at it with a stick.

After a moment of examining her inadequate job, Sasuke followed behind her, shaking his head. He muttered under his breath in a dark tone, "Idiot, can't even handle a fire."

"Hey!" Sakura beamed, pouting at the Uchiha's snide remark. "I can too!"

"Yo, no lover spats right now children—I'm trying to help you." Kakashi waved towards the two, beckoning them to stop their bickering. "Anyways—" He nodded, "Yeah. Be a good girl and sit there Sakura." He paused when he sensed a flare up of chakra. "No need to get over-protective at the moment, Sasuke. I'm not going to rape her."

"Bastard, Kakashi-sensei knows what he's doing."

"Naruto, I'm not your teacher anymore!" Kakashi glowered, his head turning towards the flushed blond.

The boy stared blankly at the flickering fire, his sapphire orbs half-lidded. "I know..."

"Now, Sakura—" Focusing his mind on all chakra signals that surrounded him, he could make out vague silhouettes of each character. Kakashi rose his forefingers towards Sakura's temple and soon enough placed them on her burning skin.

He frowned. "She feels like she has a flu."

"_Orpheum _does that." Naruto interjected. "The drug they use on us."

Kakashi was silent for awhile, processing all the information he had received. Finally, with a long, exasperated sigh, he demanded, "When you reach Tsunade, make her take a sample of Sakura's blood...—"

"Tch. Why the hell should I allow that?" Sasuke questioned. His eyes were narrowed to slits while he made his snide remark, "I don't want to take a chance of malpractice with her equipment, they're most likely going to be unsanitary."

"You'll have to take that chance then, Sasuke." Kakashi stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "We have to know the effects that the drug has inside the body. I surely doubt that Tsunade would even dare think about reusing any scalpel or syringe or whatnot on _Sakura_."

"Maybe they had gotten her to." Sasuke said, "What then—she could just give them our location. Screw us all over. They'll steal my eyes and then kill me, test Naruto, test and use Sakura, they'll most likely kill you—"

"I'm going to be involved in this?" Kakashi questioned in a surprised tone.

Naruto grinned, "You're our teacher...—"

"—I'm blind though."

"Being blind doesn't make you completely useless like the girl." Sasuke shrugged and tilted his head in direction of Sakura—who was now tracing her finger in the dirt, forming a flower, then a smile, then a circle, then a triangle, then a...

Kakashi sighed, "I'm glad to know you still value my abilities, but I still think Sakura will be of more use."

"Maybe..." Sasuke breathed, his tone wandered to an unknown territory, "...Maybe."

Sakura looked up from her drawing and smiled.

"Sasuke-kun—"

...

...

...

It is the first gift he has ever received.

A painting.

"You saved me..." He says in an unbelieving tone.

One of blood.

His lips tremble and he doesn't know whether or not he should cherish it. But, after a few moments of silence, he lets out a heavy breath and he hugs her limp body. His hopes high on this all being just some silly, ridiculous dream.

"I don't like red on you."

...

...

**20. **

She looked at him with her bright emerald eyes and her hand shot up waiting for him to come grab it. When her smile faded and the boy had finally made his way to her with a blatant scowl present on his face, she asked:

"Who was I...—"

He paused, looked at her, then at the heart she had drawn on the ground, and with a hardened glare, he walked away. "Don't ask stupid questions."

"—...to you..?"

* * *

**A/N:** Most definitely: Epic. C:

**Reviews make me write. (:**

EWHH its Kenna


	5. Gaia

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO.**

* * *

_Discuss me.  
_

_-  
_

-&-

...

...

(thump. thump. thump.)

...

...

_I wonder why you worry_—  
_Because,_  
_I'm still here._

_..._

_Why do you say:  
I'm different?  
I'm not refusing you,  
I want you._

_..._

_..._

_Let me want you. Let me help you.  
_

_...  
_

_Let me love you.  
_

...

...

**Breath. Breath. BREATH!**

...

_I need to love you, again.  
_

...

...

(more. more. more.)

...

_&help ourselves;  
_

...

(drip. drip. drip.)

...

She delved into the pool of red water and smiled feverishly.

...

_-&-_

_BRAVE _**NEW** WORLD

...

"What we had was real to me."

* * *

"—or that time when you saved Jiraiya from being burned to a crisp, courtesy of Sasuke, because—unknown to you—pictures of you getting out of the hot springs were posted in Icha—"

Sasuke scowled. "That's enough." Sasuke snapped with a heated reply, sending a glare at Sakura and Kakashi.

Kakashi let out a throaty chuckle and waved his hand. "Sasuke, it's called being human. Ever heard of it..?" Kakashi waited a moment, almost as though he were expecting an answer. But, with a sigh of exhaustion he finally said, "You know, reminiscing and discussing events about our past."

His glare not once lightened, but he did flip his head back towards the road, continuing to glower, "Whatever. Just don't discuss that."

Naruto snorted at Sasuke. "You should be grateful, Kakashi-sensei's sparing the details."

Sasuke scowled.

He then let out muffled growled when he heard Sakura's and Kakashi's giggle. "Idiots."

"Hm... Oh!" Kakashi exclaimed, his tone giddy and filled with excitement—which worried Sasuke. "There was that time when you had to share a bed with Naruto for a mission, and during the middle of the night Sasuke just waltzed in—jeopardizing our mission and lives—and carried you to his bed—"

...

...

...

The boy is a joker—playing tricks on everyone, all the time.

But with every year, he becomes more and more mature, it's only natural with age.

So, when he's lying in that casket,

She waits—

for that fool to open his eyes and apologize to the king.

"Can't you hear your people cry?"

...

...

**21.**

"Shut up." Sasuke hissed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "You're more goddamn annoying than the moron!"

Sakura shifted her position on Kakashi's back and sighed, "Sasuke-kun why are you so defensive about everything?"

"I'm not defensive."

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks and tilted his head towards the sky. Taking in a deep breath of the crisp air, a sheepish grin plastered onto his tan face. "I..." Naruto took another sniff of the air, just to make sure. "I smell RAMEN!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, bursting off to wherever his nose was leading him.

Sasuke sneered with disgust at the blond-haired boy. "_Idiot_! You could have gave away our position!"

"Sasuke, stop worrying." Kakashi cooed. "I would have sensed anyone following us."

Sasuke eyed his former teacher suspiciously, complete disbelief in his glare. "You're _blind_, I'm not going to trust you with Saku...—everyone's life."

"Being blind heightens my other senses, Sasuke." Kakashi furrowed his brow and frowned. "I'm at a higher level of skill, blind or not. Don't you _dare _act like I would even _jeopardize _any one of your lives."

"Tch. Whatever." Sasuke hissed. Taking a moment to look at Naruto, who hadn't even bothered to stop for them to catch up, Sasuke then walked up to Kakashi for a short moment. He paused, looking at the silver-haired man and the pink-haired girl. "I'll take Sakura from here, take a break."

"You have major trust issues." Kakashi deadpanned to the Uchiha, letting Sakura off of his back.

"Why should I—"

Kakashi then mused for a short moment, speaking aloud. "We should be the ones who don't trust you, _especially _with Sakura."

The raven-locked boy must have ignored his comment, because his attention was already on the girl. "Get on." Sasuke snapped with an annoyed tone. He reached out and grasped her forearm with a vice-like grip, then tugging, he pulled her to his body.

"Ow—Sa...Sasuke-kun! That hurts." Sakura's jaw twitched and she lightly tried freeing her arm. "Alright!"

She watched the boy sigh. He gave her a skeptical glare and finally dropped her arm. "I hate repeating myself." Sasuke hissed, spinning on his heel around.

Sakura gave a small huff of aggravation and climbed on his back—

"Hey!" Sasuke scowled, "Don't hold on too tight!"

Sakura laid her head in the nape of Sasuke's neck, her hot breath tickling his naked flesh. With neither a distant nor a warm voice, she finally asked, "Why? Can you feel my breasts?"

Sasuke dismissed her comment with an inward growl. After shuffling his feet for a few seconds, getting used to the weight difference, he began his sprint to Naruto, Kakashi by his side, chuckling.

* * *

A loud groan permeated the small town. "That hit the spot!"

"True." Kakashi grinned behind his mask, almost in a nostalgic way. Then after a hefty sigh, he patted his stomach in a light-manner and laughed. "I haven't had a good meal in years."

"It was...fine." Sasuke muttered before residing to the counter where Sakura was. "Stop wasting time, Sakura." Sasuke beckoned her over in a casual way while glaring at the restaurant worker.

Sakura looked at him innocently and smiled, before glancing back to the cashier. "That's Sasuke-kun." Sakura pointed at said boy. "I won't be surprised if he hates you..." Sakura sighed. When she saw the cashier's twitch, she panicked, "Oh no! Don't worry. He hates everything. Except that blond boy over there. That kid's Naruto—"

"_Sakura_!"

Sasuke had already stalked up to the poor girl and grabbed her harshly on the shoulder. Sakura winced at the contact and let out a small squeak, "Hey!" Before she could further protest, Sasuke had already jolted her to the side and brought her back to the rest of the group, sparing one last glare to the cashier. "Sasuke-kun!"

...

...

...

Today is memorable.

She's smiling because she is asked out on her first date, and mother is there to help her choose out her outfit and father is there to glare, and to pout and whine and curse and get out his heavy-duty artillery and threats.

She's grinning because she has just felt what everyone but her knew, her first kiss. It isn't really romantic, but it's still too beautiful for her to ever forget.

She's happy because now she knows what true love actually is.

And everyday, he curses at himself—

because it isn't him.

...

...

**22.**

By the time they had reached a close to empty street, Sasuke finally let out his built up rage. "Naruto's idiocy must be fucking _contagious_." Sasuke growled under his breath, ignoring Naruto's protest and irritation. "I can't believe you!"

Sakura stopped her attempts to remove his grip on her shoulder and asked, completely dumbfounded, "Huh?"

"Bastard, stop abusing her!" Naruto growled, readying a punch to the raven-locked boy.

Sasuke didn't even bother to spare him a glance, before he had thrown Sakura against the brick building. Sakura gasped in pain and her head lulled down. Griping at the growing pangs she hesitantly returned her eyes to meet crimson ones. "I'm...sorry?"

Naruto growled and Kakashi could see the hysterics which were about to ensue. Before Naruto could even move an inch to charge at Sasuke, Kakashi had gripped his collar and paralyzed all movement. "What the hell, Kakashi?! He's _hurting _her!"

"No...—" Sasuke hissed in agitation, "Maybe the idiot will fall for that, even that old man, but not me." Sasuke's right hand flickered up and pinched her jawline, his grip on her shoulder tightening further.

"Just wait, Naruto." Kakashi muttered under his breath, hopefully calming down any unstable emotions the blond had. "I can stop this if it's necessary."

"But, Kakashi—!"

"Sa-Sasuke...k-kun!" Sakura choked out, tears streaming down her rosy cheeks. "Stop... Stop it, p-please."

"Listen to me," Sasuke spat with resentment, "Get wits..." He paused, thinking of his wording. "Stop tempting..._fate_. You're gambling our lives, you're life, the world, Sakura!" His grip strengthened and he narrowed his eyes, "Tell me, Sakura—why do you refuse to remember me?"

"I-I... Sasuke, stop—I don't refuse, I can't because I don't know _how_...—" She gasped, choking out another sob, "—My... My hand, it...it hurts."

Sasuke looked at her and suddenly—

"Kakashi!" Naruto groaned, "The bastard, he's gonna—!"

"Shut up...—" Kakashi furrowed his brows when he saw how the chakra silhouettes connected for the shortest second. "This wasn't...planned."

—fell.

* * *

_I want you so much. Just—_

(thump. thump. thump.)

_He presses his head into the nape of her neck and breathes in her scent._

(breath. breath. BREATH!)

_Just remember me...—please._

...

(THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!)

_He doesn't raise his head back up, because the moment is ecstasy._

(BREATH!)

_And he denies, those trickles—_

(drop. drop. DROP!)

_"Sa...Sakura." _

(**END OF TRANSMISSION**)

_—tears._

_

* * *

_

When Sasuke woke up, he was surprised to find himself in a house—a relatively _homey _type house to be more specific. His eyes were narrowed and he felt something akin to panic arise in the pit of his stomach—where is Saku...—his team?

Taking in a few breaths, not exactly sure whether to calm his nerve or steady his stature, he finally jumped off the bed. He swiftly let his hand wipe across his forehead and frowned when he saw the sweat. Was the room hot or was he sick? A growl inside his throat, he gripped his kunai, which was set on the table along with his other weapons, and steadily walked through the ajar door.

...

...

...

She doesn't even remember why she took in that child.

She was studious, yes.

But, she was annoying, and she was emotional and beautiful and too innocent to be a ninja.

She sometimes regrets it, having taken in such a loving girl.

Because the woman reminiscences—

maybe that's what broke her.

...

...

**23.**

"You're already awake?"

Sasuke arched a brow at the woman sitting before him. She was merely staring at the blazing fire in the fireplace and sipping on a cup of tea—or sake, for all he knew. When he got a better look of his surroundings, Sasuke's nerves calmed and he automatically let his guard loosen the slightest degree.

Sasuke cleared his throat, looking at her with disbelief and slight curiosity, "Why am I here?"

"Thank your teammates." Her tone was low and Sasuke grimaced that he couldn't distinguish the emotion.

When Sasuke gave her a questioning look, the blond sighed. "You're team miraculously found me. Thank Naruto, that idiot, for his compassion and perseverance and Kakashi for his tracking skills."

"Tsunade, what happened?"

Tsunade laughed at the boy's indifference to his team, he was always looking for the girl's involvement. "Sakura, she damaged internal organs and caused some severe hemorrhaging. If it wasn't for Naruto's dominance over the Kyuubi's chakra, you would have been dead."

He wondered how, but didn't bother asking. Instead, Sasuke scowled. "Have you seen her?" He asked in a demanding tone.

"No matter how much you think she has forgotten, she remembers everything within time. When the situation requires her to, she will use her aggressive or defensive techniques for protection. Think of it as a..._life-line_, almost. If Naruto is in danger, the Kyuubi will end up protecting him for it's sake. When Sakura's in danger, her memories will race by—and if you're lucky, she'll grasp several of them."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, partially understanding Tsunade's explanation. What didn't make sense was why he didn't sense it coming.

Tsunade leaned back in her maroon chair and stared blankly at the wooden ceiling. She blinked, her eyes filled with something relative to being proud. "Kakashi said she tried to run away after, back to where they first kept her—that testing area. But, she just stopped admist her run, almost as though she was thinking about morals."

He snorted at her story, "_Morals_?"

"When Naruto and Kakashi finally caught up to her, she was just there, smiling and crying, saying—"

"Where is she?" Sasuke was growing more impatient.

"—how she missed you."

* * *

...

...

...

She lays on the wet grass and stares blankly at the endless starry night, searching for answers she knows she'll never get.

So when she sees that shooting star pass her by with such speed,

she prays to whatever is up there—

that his existence was never actually a lie, but a promise.

Because after it disappears, she once again, must return to her vanishing orchestra.

...

...

**24.**

"You know..." Tsunade began, looking at the silver-haired man. "I'm still sorry."

"It was never your fault." Kakashi reassured, taking his spot next to the tired Uchiha. "Every body decays in the end." He took the cup that was sitting beside him and brought it to Tsunade. After she finished pouring herself a cup of tea, she nodded and lazily let the droplets of liquid fill his own cup.

"Will you fucking tell me where Sakura is?" Sasuke demanded once again, his patience completely lost.

"Sakura's in the far bedroom, resting." Tsunade snapped, glaring at the boy. "Don't speak to your elders like that either, boy."

Sasuke merely scoffed and began to stand up.

"Naruto's in there with her too, stay here right now. They need rest."

"_What_?" Sasuke sneered, "That idiot is in there with her?"

"Save it, Uchiha."

Sasuke screwed up his face in a strange manner, but returned to his seat. The last thing he needed was Kakashi to taunt him about something else. Glaring, he returned to the conversation and gave an irritated sigh, signaling for Tsunade to continue with her speech.

"You shouldn't let this get to you, you know. I'm sure it's only some preliminary adjustment." Tsunade sighed, "Sakura, I mean."

"What are you talking about?" Kakashi asked, "Naruto was under the same drugs and—"

"It's a different situation. Sakura doesn't have a demon inside her like Naruto does. The boy hadn't actually been through the multiple tests they use on the containers. He went through the beginning subjects thanks to him being the last demon—the nine-tails. Sakura, on the other hand, is completely human...—"

"Naruto's completely human." Sasuke remarked snidely.

Tsunade groaned in aggravation, "Just work with me here, OK? Kakashi will be sleeping with Sakura next if you don't shut up." She threatened, her eyebrows raised in amusement.

"Anyways, Sakura, has been forced through drug programs with the... What is it called—Ah, yes. Orpheum. Well, I'm sure she's been forced into having microchip implants and whatnot, as well.

"Why don't you just go in and see her?" Sasuke asked. "Just go and fix it."

"I've already seen her. Stop being an immature brat, I can't just go in and fix it." Tsunade snapped. "She's was already a complicated being to begin with, and now with her mind's instability, courtesy of the all of those tests, it is merely _harder_."

"Well, what did you see her for then?"

"She just wanted to talk."

"She's sleeping you said." Sasuke glowered in annoyance, "Where is the consistency, you _hag_?"

"No, you bastard, but it shouldn't be long."

...

...

...

Sometimes, he sits there in that empty house—that house which is contaminated with blood, family, and tears—and he gives up on his composure.

Because, with no one around to see the facade fall,

it's his finale.

He finally understands that he is allowed to hope, wish, and dream.

...

...

**25.**

Kakashi suggested, "Why don't you just turn her off?"

A long, dreaded silence greeted each one of them coldly.

* * *

**A/N:** BAMF story is BAMF.

**Reviews make me write. (:**

EWHH its Kenna


	6. Isolophobia

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO.**

* * *

_-_

Learn me.

_-_

_-  
_

-&-

...

...

(thump. thump. thump.)

...

...

_Savor my tongue,  
How it runs down your perspiring chest,  
How it slowly delves into your mouth.  
I'll do anything for you._

_..._

_Tell me what you want my to do,  
I swear upon the dead, upon my life,  
I'll do it._

_I'll become your slave.  
_

_..._

_..._

_Breath me in. Take me in.  
_

_...  
_

_Let me in.  
_

...

...

**Breath. Breath. BREATH!**

...

_You need me, just like I need you.  
_

...

...

(more. more. more.)

...

_&pleasure ourselves;  
_

...

(drip. drip. drip.)

...

She was taught eternal vigilance.

So she spoke in a definite tone to her small, worn doll that sat on her lap.

...

_-&-_

...

"They weren't really bad people, but they were sick."

* * *

"I wouldn't do that." Tsunade sighed, "You may think of her as a robot now, but—"

"How about, still a human?" Kakashi muttered under his breath. He took another sip of his tea and winced, it was too bitter for his preference.

"Why not? You're a doctor; you should know all about implants and drugs and testings. I think I may have turned her off myself, once." Sasuke then added, "Accidentally." He stared at the crackling fireplace and let his mind wander. "I was..._frantic_, until I found the place again to turn her back on."

"The little death. The drug helps stimulate things like those. You act like there is some button to turn her on and off...—Well, surprise. There isn't. Sasuke, you might have thought you accidentally turned her off by hitting some nerve, because she collapsed or she fainted or whatever, but, hm..." Tsunade seemed to be thinking out her next words, being a medic is easy when your speaking with other medics, but when it's just other people, the terminology was always hard to translate.

"No. It's more like turning a doll on and off. Tsunade, they've taken Sakura away from..." Sasuke died down for a while, letting an eerie silence replace their conversation. Instead of finishing the sentence, he steered away and continued on with the subject. "They've replaced her with some docile idiot."

...

...

...

She sits there in her white dress, playing in the mud. He can't decide whether to call her crazy or just plain stupid. So when he walks up to her, he finally finds the words for her.

"You're...distinguished."

She smiles at him and reaches for his hand.

He is curious and reluctantly gives her his hand, expecting her to pull herself up, but what surprises him—

she pulls him down into the mud with her.

"And now you are too!"

...

...

**26.**

"Your bluntness wounds."

"They destroyed her." Sasuke hissed. "And, now... Now she's losing her past—"

"Those little things are her body relapsing. It's nothing to worry about Sasuke. This whole business of memory—it will all pass, I promise."

Kakashi questioned, "How do you know for sure though? Maybe it does work, for some people—but when they're tampering with minds—it could get worse." He said before taking another sip of the tea. "You said yourself how it became even harder to help her."

All three of them looked up when they heard a door slowly opening, "Shh." Tsunade breathed, waiting to see who it was entering the room. When her eyes rested upon a blond-haired boy, she nodded, beckoning him over here. "It's just Naruto."

"I don't care who it is—Tsunade, that's not the point. Sakura will be nothing but a shell without memories, and they'll reprogram her into whatever they do. They tried once already, they called her No. 1178—that's when they—"

"Your voice, bastard—lower your fucking voice." Naruto groaned, massaging his temple. "I-I'm not used to...not having the pills after I awaken."

Tsunade understood what he was talking about and reassured him. "You had grown dependent on them, I assume. It will take a while to get use to, but knowing someone like you, you'll be fine in...a week...maybe, two."

The Uchiha scoffed. "Shut up, moron. You've had enough sleep already."

Both Naruto and Tsunade sent a glare towards the Uchiha and cursed at him under their breath.

Kakashi's head rested back on the chair's tops, directly facing the ceiling. With his eyes completely closed, he mused to himself aloud, "How did we let this happen, Tsunade?" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "How could we..?"

Naruto's breath hitched. "I-It won't stop. Criminals were first, no one minded it at first, but they took Sakura-chan, then others, then me, then Sasuke, then everyone, then..._everyone_." He spoke with disbelief, almost like he couldn't even understand what he was saying.

* * *

**BRAVE NEW WORLD  
**

* * *

"You must face up to the fact that Sakura had certain...tendencies and beliefs that could be harmful to the government, along with most of us. Sakura was more open about it, because she is a selfless person. She spoke aloud to save all of you, her hopes that you could save others." Tsunade stared at her drink and even though her throat was tight and dry, she knew she wasn't thirsty.

"But in the end...—everyone's caught in some way." Naruto said sadly.

Tsunade noticed how Sasuke's fists were clenching further, how his black eyes were beginning to become adulterated with red specks. "Calm down, Sasuke. If Sakura was able to save thousands with her sacrifice, maybe everyone could have wanted—"

"The analogy doesn't hold." Kakashi mustered through his tea cup. After finishing his sip, he continued, "Sakura used to be interested and aggressive and very alive. She wanted to change things—she was a constructive person, not a destructive one. To say she had been a radical, maybe it was somewhat true. But, you can't honestly say they had a decent reason to use her. They have uses for demons, blood-lines—things Sakura doesn't have. Many people have excellent chakra control and great medicine techniques, you yourself are outstanding in those measures...—"

"I don't know either, maybe they know something we don't. Maybe, they realized that Sakura possesses great qualities and assets, but she is also connected with to others. Naruto—the Kyuubi. Sasuke—the Sharingan. Kakashi—you've been standing in their way to get to the others." Tsunade stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

Naruto began walking back to his room with Sakura, his voice hushed. "Maybe, we're all over-thinking this. We've become so paranoid, we're not thinking clearly. There could be some great '_they_' corrupting us—but, we are still managing to run our own lives, aren't we?"

...

...

...

It's a nightmare—a bittersweet nightmare.

He swears it has to be.

Because when he sees how she sways back and forth on that tree, and how that noose is lightening it's grip every few minutes,

he doesn't believe it.

His candy became his hangman.

...

...

**27.**

"Damn the state, damn the government, damn everyone." Sasuke breathed. "Just...Just, damn you. I want her fixed. The state and everyone can rot with it's corruption... I... I don't care about that." He was confused, no doubt. Maybe delirious from the previous blood-loss and lack of sleep.

"I just need to save her, goddammit."

Before Tsunade could retort with a snide remark about his selfishness, Sasuke had already disappeared to his room. He really needed some sleep.

* * *

_You don't have to remember me—_

(thump. thump. thump.)

_His tongue traces her jawline, until he slowly drops back to her lips. _

(breath. breath. BREATH!)

_But, help me become like you._

...

(THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!)

_Her scent fills his nostrils, her gasps fill his ears._

(BREATH!)

_Help me—_

(pant. pant. PANT!)

_"I love..."_

(**END OF TRANSMISSION**)

_—forget._

* * *

Sasuke's eyes peaked open and judging by the darkness, he could tell it was close to midnight. What he couldn't understand was why it was so hard to breathe. An unnatural weight was set on top of his groin and torso and a steady stream of hot breath was tickling his naked chest.

He tried to open his mouth to speak, to question what the hell was going on, but he couldn't. He felt completely paralyzed.

"Sasuke-kun..." The silhouette breathed, her head delving down towards him.

He completely flushed when he felt her fingers trickling through his sweaty, raven-colored locks. "_S-Sakura_!" He hoarsely whispered, shock and horror blatant in his tone. He shivered when he felt how her body was pressed against his. She was...hugging him?

"I want to kiss you, Sasuke-kun." She muttered against his skin, he felt her tongue swiftly flick his flesh and gave an embarrassed shudder.

Sasuke could only be thankful that the room was dark with the fact that he felt a surge of blood flowing to his cheeks. "I..." Sasuke groaned when he felt her fingers now tracing his abdomen. "_Sakura_, stop this."

"Can I kiss you Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke averted his eyes from their connected bodies, looking at the closed door. "You...—You should go back to bed."

He choked out a surprised gasp when he saw her face inch closer and closer until their noses touched. "You are...scared?" Sakura asked, curious, but before she was able to lift her head and turn to leave, she had already been pinned against the bed.

Something had taken control over Sasuke's paralysis, for he somehow managed to switch their positions, Sakura now underneath him. With his elbows supporting him above her, his face swooped down and he captured her lips.

Sakura gave a breathy moan into his mouth and slowly snaked her arms around his neck. "Sa-Sasuke...kun—" She drawled into his mouth, soon-to-be bruised lips smiling against his own.

Somewhere in that moment, Sasuke felt as though he didn't have to care about the world and it's problems. That he had finally been able to help protect her, and save her and take her and keep her all for himself. Without bothering to ask for permission, he shoved his tongue into her mouth, exploring the tiny crevice. This was all he needed, for her to be there.

To help him forget about everything else and remember them.

Only them.

By the time he had finished memorizing every detail of her mouth and broke apart, she had pulled him flush against her. "Please...Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke's body went limp against hers and his head rested in the nape of her neck. This was what he needed, to have her and forget. Like she did with him.

"I just... I just want to remember everything...—I want to remember everything about you and me."

He said nothing, but his breath hitched in the back of his throat when he felt the vibration of her voice against his chest. "I can feel your heartbeat." She muttered. Even with the thin layer of cotton material diverging between their two bodies, he shuddered ever-so-lightly at the feeling of her lips tickling his warm skin. "It's going _thump, thump_..._ Thump, thump, thump_..."

For a moment, he couldn't decide whether to respond or try and pretend he was asleep. "Aa." He agreed. Then, with an inward sigh and a gathering of courage, Sasuke finally managed to repeat those words. "I can feel your heart beating as well."

...

...

...

Tomorrow, she decided that she is going to open a bakery—sweets, pastries, happiness.

For she likes sweets and pastries, and, oh, how she craves happiness.

So when those doors open tomorrow, for all those costumers to enjoy and marvel at her treats, she will have a chance to use all that icing—

to cover up the secret pain.

...

...

**28.**

She smiled. "Good..."

Without saying anything, Sasuke rolled off of her and looked blankly at the ceiling. Taking in a deep breath, he faced the the wall opposite of her and closed his eyes. He could only regret the fact that he was tired, because he knew, right now, he needed some fresh air.

"...good." She repeated in a minuscule voice. Her already half-lidded eyes slowly, but surely fell to a complete close and her mind drifted off to her very own dreamland.

* * *

"So will you help us?" Naruto pleaded. "I want to help Sakura-chan and the bastard and Kakashi-sensei. I swear, I'll do anything. I'll—I'll get on my knee's and worship the ground you walk on...—bow...—kiss your wrinkled feet...—"

"I _don't_ have wrinkled feet!" Tsunade snapped in anguish.

Naruto blinked a few times. "—.._.right_. Tsunade-baa...er... Tsunade, please."

"Naruto..." Tsunade sighed, "It's not that I'm not willing to help. But, listen, you guys are going to have to help me with a few things. Elsewise, all of it will have been a complete waste of time and effort. Think of it as a few..._missions_."

"Missions?!" Naruto bellowed in joyous awry, "Really?! Baa-chan! I miss them! What? What? What levels are they, what do we need to do?"

"Calm down you brat." Tsunade sighed and massaged her temple rigorously. "Just wait for the rest of your team to get over here."

"Where are they?"

Tsunade's eyes flickered from her nails to the blond-haired boy and she gave a simple smile. "Sakura's picking herbs for me, Sasuke is training, and Kakashi... Well, Kakashi's doing whatever he does in his spare time."

"Masturbating?"

"No!" Tsunade choked, appalled by Naruto's terminology. But, after a few minutes, she paused and changed her mind. "Well... _Actually_..."

Naruto sighed and stood up from the burgundy chair. Looking around for a few seconds, almost like he was checking his surroundings for traps, he stretched, and began walking towards the door in a dignified manner. "Thanks, baa-chan, I'll see you later."

She was slightly intrigued, because this was Naruto she was talking about. This boy was strange and typical, strong and emotional, something too confusing to understand, but too simple-minded to be left dumbfounded. "Where—?"

"For all I know, Sasuke could be trying to bone Sakura."

He heard Tsunade give an graceless, un-ladylike snort and he laughed along with her.

Before he shut the door completely, he looked back at Tsunade and gave an easy shrug. "I still need to pummel that traitor's ass."

* * *

Her fingers softly gripped the stem of the tulip and she gave a light tug. However, her emerald eyes narrowed in frustration when she noticed that the flower didn't follow her movement. Biting her lip and scrunching her nose in annoyance, she gave another tug.

...

...

...

She is blond; she is her first friend and her first rival.

"From this point on, I wish to ensue my own destiny, please...—"

She smiles handing back the now dried and wilted tulip.

"—don't help me anymore."

The blond can't bring herself to smile. No matter how glad she is that the girl is learning to become independent and strong, she can't bring herself to abide by any of those terms.

"But... I want to help you, Sakura."

...

...

**29.**

The flower came out abruptly.

Sakura gave one last curious look to the flower's previous origin, but sighed and turned towards the west. Looking up at the further rising sun, she blinked. "How strange..." She mumbled, before setting off to find her next flower.

She had already finished her task about an hour ago, but she never bothered to go back to the house yet. Tsunade's place was spacious, but for some reason she felt so cramped in there, clustered with everyone there. It wasn't as though she didn't like Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Tsunade. It was just uncomfortable when they knew more about her than she knew about herself.

And... Sasuke.

He was being more distant and off-beat in personality than she knew was possible.

That morning, when she had greeted him with a simple good morning and smile, he returned with a grunt and glare. She even stopped by when he was training, asking if he was alright, because he was bleeding; he pushed her away from him and told her to stay away.

Inside her head, she reluctantly admitted to him being scary. Horrifying, to be more precise.

But, no matter how scary and horrifying and unnerving and intimidating he was—

He was captivating and alluring and mesmerizing and beguiling.

She came to a completely halt when she saw a vermilion red tulip before her feet. Bending down and letting another smile appear on her face, she gripped it's stem with her forefingers and yanked up.

Nothing.

She tried once again, using a stronger pull, and slowly, oh so slowly, it came out of the ground with vex.

"H-Hm..." Sakura wondered in curiosity. Was it that she wasn't giving enough of a pull the first time or were these flowers some strange hybrid—

At the sound of shuffling before her anesthetized body, she shut her eyes in great trepidation.

"Well, well, I never though I'd see you again..."

...

...

...

A boy sits there in the dank room, cold and shivering. The saline acts as a glue, helping his bangs stick to his face and cover his despondent eyes. He picks up the small piece of sandstone that was lying next to his bare foot and smashes it against the wall. He sees it's imprint and a worn smile appears on his face.

"This is how I will be remembered."

He scratches, and he doodles and scribbles and inscribes his life's novel onto the black wall.

Pictures are worth thousands of words.

...

...

**30.**

"..._ugly_."

* * *

**A/N:** This is so baller, I bet Chuck Norris reads it.

**Reviews make me write. (:**

EWHH its Kenna


	7. Naupathia

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO.**

* * *

**Follow me.**

_-_

-&-

...

...

(thump. thump. thump.)

...

...

_We come.  
We see.  
We reach.  
We chase._

_What are these dreams of ours? _

_..._

(bang. bang. bang.)

_..._

_..._

_Cherish the moments we have together,  
for death's grip is stronger than us._

_Trust in the life we have,  
for our trust is what binds us together._

_..._

_Put your faith in my knowledge._

...

...

**Breath. Breath. BREATH!**

...

_Play tactfully,  
skillfully,  
but most of all,  
think ahead._

...

...

(bang. bang. bang.)

...

_&puncture ourselves;_

...

(drip. drip. drip.)

...

She is lost in the sea of blood, staring death straight-on.

...

_-&-_

...

"Chase the morning."

* * *

"U-Ugly?" Sakura gaped in horror at the boy smiling before her. "I...I don't even know you, and...you're _insulting_ me? You... You metrosexual creep!"

He feigned hurt and continued to make his way up to her. "Almost as ugly as your mentor. Time has caught up with you Sakura—tsk, tsk." He shook his head a few times, emphasizing his disappointment in her. Raising a hand, he brushed a strand of pink locks behind her right ear. Sakura cowered at his cold touch, he reminded her of—

"I've missed you, hag." He muttered under his breath, the words emptying into the cool breeze that passed by. Knowing Sakura didn't hear him, he sighed and continued, "I had gotten news of your return and had come to see for myself."

Sakura bit her lip, confused. "How do people know that I'm here?" Sakura asked with an obvious bewildered expression.

He shrugged. "Word travels fast in such small villages." He said simply, facing the way he entered. He smiled at her, forcing Sakura into a greater state of confusion. "My name is Sai..." He whispered softly, the smile on his face contrasted his tone drastically. "...and I'm here to give you this."

He handed her a small scroll and met her eyes.

"Don't open it when there are others around."

—Sasuke.

Sakura opened her mouth to protest, ask when she would know, but Sai shook his head.

He smiled at her and waved. "I don't know what's on it either, I'm merely the deliverer."

A strong gust of wind flurried the petals that surrounded her and an abyss of midnight black ink obscured her vision.

"Wait...—Sai!" Sakura screamed in annoyance.

He was gone.

...

...

...

His feet skim the lake's surface, slowly dipping further and further into the water's blackening depths. He looks up to the moon eying the single cloud that loiters by. A scowl appears on his worn face and he takes another breath.

"For I could offer you everything—"

His silhouette is no longer seen, but the splashing of water is all that is heard.

"—except love."

...

...

**31.**

"Bastard!" Naruto screamed in anguish as he averted his eyes to the ground. "Don't use your genjutsu!" Naruto pouted and began forming multiple hand seals. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Twenty clones of the blond-haired boy spontaneously generated in a straight line. "Take this, Sasuke!"

Said boy rolled his eyes and scoffed at Naruto. "The last thing I need is for your idiocy to be multiplied." He growled under his breath, pure aggravation at the idea of having to destroy another twenty clones. "Don't you have any _other _moves?" Sasuke asked while dodging another punch.

"Yeah right, jackass, I have easily another one-bajillion up my sleeve!" Naruto grinned with satisfaction at his assumed number.

Sasuke scowled. "You're _such _a moron—Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu!" A streaming line of fire began spraying from the Uchiha's mouth, forming into a large ball of flames.

Naruto disappeared from sight.

Glaring, Sasuke began scanning his current surroundings with his activated sharingan. Any sudden movement and Naruto would be pinned to his tiniest hair. When Sasuke didn't sense any movement, he jumped up and began gathering chakra to his fists. Facing his head towards the blood-contaminated dirt, he threw out his fist and readied himself for an impact.

He released all his chakra when he saw a sudden outburst of orange flurry his vision. Sasuke inwardly cursed for having taken the chance of being possibly fooled with such a—

"SENNEN GOROSHI!"

—rookie move.

The Uchiha snorted and placed a hand over the attacking clone, sending him directly to the dirt. "Give up yet, moron?"

"I'll never lose to you, asshole." Naruto yelled, twitching when he saw all of his clones beginning to, once again, disappear. Grinning sheepishly and scratching the back of his head, he laughed, "But, I'm starting to get kinda hungry."

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment, pondering on what he should do. He decided to reduce the use of his chakra by revealing a pair of obsidian orbs. He scoffed, "Whatever, moron."

"Moron?" Naruto twitched in fury.

"Deaf _and _dumb." Sasuke corrected himself, a smirk plastered onto his fine, thin lips. He turned around and sighed, watching the gaping Naruto with apathetic eyes. "Shut up and stop making me wait for you."

Naruto screamed in rage, but quickly sped to the Uchiha's side.

* * *

...

...

...

The lightning flashes across the sky, illuminating the heavens above.

She dips the tips of her fingers into the cage's open gaps and reaches to touch the frightened animal. It was almost as though it were chained to the section it stood, for it moved not once.

"We're all bleeding—"

She frowns, disheartened.

"—for a lost freedom."

...

...

**32.**

She sighed and closed her eyes, the music of the waves crashing against each other lulling her into a serene state. Her fingers continued to fumble over the small string that bound the scroll together. Pursing her lips together, she scrunched her nose and her eyes shot open.

She growled in frustration—when, where, why?

How was she supposed to know what to do with the scroll, why should she even trust that strange boy?

Sakura kicked at the gravel that decorated the pathway and laughed. "People are so silly these days." She muttered as she continued to march down the man-made path that lead towards the ocean.

Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, and even Tsunade had been watching her non-stop since they had arrived. It's not like she was completely helpless, less needed them. She had been doing perfectly fine before. All she ever had to do was listen to her orders and comply. Where she was, she was content—she would complete her task and she would be rewarded.

The pink-headed girl began stripping her clothes. Slowly, she took off her boots, skirt covering, black shorts, shirt, and her gloves, neatly laying each garment aside on the large rock beside her. She shivered a moment when she realized how the wind picked up. She contemplated whether or not to leave on her bindings and under-shorts.

Sakura let her right foot graze the top layer of the ocean's water before deciding she'd leave them on.

(_Initializing sequence_ . . . **ACTIVATED**.)

* * *

**BRAVE**

—

**NEW**

—

**WORLD**

* * *

Sakura blinked. "H-Huh?"

Nothing happened.

Shrugging off the small, robotic voice in her ears, she dove into the frigid water. Her cheeks puffed out as she held her breath under the water. She managed to give a small smile at a school of fish, before swimming after them. All the while, ignoring the small buzzing in her ear and the opaquing of her vision.

"No. 1178, disclaim your whereabouts."

Sakura choked with surprise and shot her head out from under the water. It was in her brain, her ear, telling her to state her location. "W-What?" Sakura asked, her head tilting with confusion. She looked behind her, horrified when realization hit her. She had swum further than she anticipated. She could barely see the land, less where she originated from.

"Repeat: No. 1178, disclaim your whereabouts."

Sakura's breath hitched. "I apologize, but Sasuke-kun told me I'm not allowed to specify that information." She stated diligently, her feet and arms continuing to pump up and down, keeping her afloat.

"Sakura...—" A voice drawled, her ears filled with his velvet tone. "... I am Sasuke's brother. It's OK to tell me."

(**Breathing **. . . . CHECK! **Vital signs** . . . . CHECK! **Memory** . . . . —_Processing_— ERROR. Slight, to minimal retrieval.)

"I... I don't know where I am." Sakura said in a confused tone. "I'm swimming...with fish and water and...—and I'm alone." Sakura mumbled in realization. "C-Can you bring me back to Sasuke-kun?"

There was no reply.

Her breath hitched and she bit her lip. "I'm...alone."

Sakura watched curiously as hundreds of black birds above her melded with the sky, forming a requiem of her dreams.

...

...

...

He kicks his foot against the fallen, crumbled wall, watching the chunks of snow fly with each of his thrown kicks.

Maybe it was all in the script—

maybe, maybe, maybe.

But, he will sit here and curse himself everyday for the next four years, contemplating—

why, why, why?

...

...

**33.**

Emerald orbs blinked open and in an instance she became utterly confused. She was still floating in the water, which partially confused her—she could have sworn she blacked out. So how was she floating?

(**Target pulse rate** . . . . 142.)

The most confusing part was that she heard a splashing noise coming from behind her.

(**Target blood pressure** . . . . 140/120.)

If she had the energy left, she would have probably turned around to see what was coming towards her. Sakura began to panic and her body froze with fear, what if it was a shark or...or—!

She felt a vice-like grip wrap around her waist and she let out a gasp of horror. Her strength finally came back, adrenaline surging through her veins, and she began struggling. Her head tilted up, trying her best to avoid gulping in any of the salty water and she that's when she noticed the sky.

(**Chance of target engaging in— **. . . . 92.68%)

The sky was the blackest black she had ever seen, darker than Sasuke's eyes, but the strangest part was the red moon.

"Sakura," the voice was that velvet tone she heard in her ears earlier, "trust me."

And she thought of Sasuke.

("_Trust me._")

And she calmed down.

And her body went limp against his muscular one in an awkward position.

And her eyes fell to a close while a strange euphoric feeling surged throughout her entire body.

_(**Chance of target engaging in deceit **. . . . 92.68%) _

_

* * *

_

_Jump with me. QUICKLY!  
_

(bang. bang. bang.)

_Her hand's grip on his tightens, she is scared of their fate. _

(pant. pant...—BANG!)

_She jumps over the ledge, away from the corrupting world, but he tugs her from her fate.  
_

... ... ...

(THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!)

_jump_—

(splatter.)

_"Your fate is with me."_

(**END OF TRANSMISSION**)

—_with me._

...

..._  
_

-

Her body was weak and the room was completely dark. Sakura could feel warmth dripping down her forehead. She scrunched her nose in distaste of the feeling as she tried to move. Someone grabbed her shoulder, keeping her down.

"I need to talk to you." The voice was a monotonous tone.

Sakura opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her tongue darted out of her parted lips, trying it's best to get rid of their chapped feeling. She took another deep breath, but instead of breathing out, it was a raspy cough.

"You took in a lot of salt water, Sakura." A hand was against her cheek, the way it held her head was almost intimate. "I can't protect you, if you're trying to kill yourself." Almost.

"I...—I'm sorry." She coughed again, a cool glass of water was pressed against her lips. She greedily swallowed down the clear liquid with ease.

"Hn."

It was the only reply she received, before the room went to a dead silence.

She took the moment to realize a few things. One, the person that was sitting beside her was Sasuke—she could tell by the response, the tone, and the touch. Secondly, the ground was moving back and forth—was she crazy or did Sasuke notice it too. Lastly, Naruto and Kakashi weren't there—she would have heard them if they were.

"Sasuke-kun..?" She asked, wondering—_hoping_—he was still there.

A loud sigh permeated the small room and then a grunt. "Hn?"

"Where is Naruto and Kakashi?" Her tone was curious and filled with trepidation. Did something happen—?

Sasuke must have somehow noticed that she was beginning to worry about the whereabouts of their other teammates, because he simply said, "They're sleeping. It's probably 2 a.m."

"Oh..."

She heard the shuffling of feet. Sakura blinked a few times, trying her best to envision the silhouette of the boy, the most she could get was the outline of his torso. Sasuke was apparently sitting down and leaning against a wall beside her.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" Sakura asked.

He didn't say anything and Sakura could only wonder why not.

The silence was growing unbearable and Sakura couldn't understand why it was so hot either. "Sasuke-kun, it's warm in here."

"It's actually cold." Sasuke corrected her under his breath. He was startled when he noticed her shuffling around. "Sakura, calm down, you just have a fever." He said softly, the last thing he needed her to do was freak out about being warm.

"Fever?"

He scoffed. "Tch, idiot. You got it from swimming in cold water and sleeping on the ground. Even the moron isn't _that _stupid."

When he noticed that her shuffling didn't seize, he stood up and began walking towards her. He needed her to calm down; otherwise she'd probably only further her sickness. He felt a fabricated material brush against his forearm. He raised a brow, puzzled by what it was.

"It's so _hot_!" Sakura cried, standing up.

Sasuke sighed, his hand reaching out to her. "I don't care." He stated dryly. It was her fault anyways that she got sick, why should he feel sympathetic for her idiocy?

"Sasuke-kun, I'm serious." Sakura whined, dodging his hand.

He growled at her obdurateness. "So am I." His hand finally gave way, gripping her by her waist and pulling her into his body.

"Why are you so cold?" Sakura asked.

She hated it. They were always so different, almost completely opposite. She was burning up and, here he was, ice cold. She was compassionate and he was close to being completely apathetic.

"Because it's cold out—!" Sasuke stiffened at the feeling of her body pressed up against his. "Are you wearing a shirt?"

...

...

...

The ribbon falls gracelessly to the ground causing her hair to make it's way back to her face. She sighs and opens her wardrobe, her hopes high—maybe there is finally a reason to dress up.

And once she slips on that snow-white dress and places the veil atop her head, she walks back to the bathroom and stares at the mirror before her.

Then, holding a vociferous glare, her make-up will smear and her heart will shatter.

She walks back to the toilet and, once again, forgets her hopes.

...

...

**34.**

Sakura shook her head. "It's too warm."

"Y-You... Are you completely stupid?!" Sasuke hissed.

("_I swear, sometimes I wonder if you are stupider than the moron_.")

Sakura blinked perplexed. There was a voice in the back of her head that was scolding her and the tone resembled that of Sasuke, but Sasuke's voice was deeper. Her hands wrapped around Sasuke's neck and she buried her head into his chest.

Sakura noticed the feeling of his muscles rippling under her body. "Your not wearing a shirt either." She declared.

"You were wearing my shirt."

His body was tightening, she could feel it. She released one of her hands from their lock and ran it down his chest. "Why are you always so scared of me?" Sakura scrutinized. "Your body tenses every time I touch you."

He didn't reply.

Sakura could feel his black bangs tickling her cheek. She didn't actually notice how close his face was to her until now. She could feel his cold breath slowly playing against her warm skin, the extreme temperature difference caused her to shiver.

She squeaked when his body went slack and pushed hers against the wall in one swift motion. Surprised and bewildered, she was caught off guard when she felt Sasuke's hands trailing up and down her sides, running through her pink locks, and pulling her—if it was possible—closer to him.

The way he savagely kissed her, the way he sensually touched her, and the way he held so desperately on to her, made Sakura wonder—

...

...

...

He presses his hat atop of her head, and smiles into it's black velvet, in a way which no one else can see it.

She grips onto his body, never wanting to let go—

It's the whisper into that cloth that makes her heart skip a beat.

"Abracadabra."

And the chance of living in a world of fantasy, one with him, disappeared forever.

...

...

**35.**

—just how much he needed her.

* * *

**A/N:** This story has total swagger. :B

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ - Shadow Clone Technique  
_Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu_ - Fire Style: Fireball Technique  
_Sennen Goroshi _- One Thousand Years of Death

**Reviews make me write. (:**

EWHH its Kenna


	8. Schizophrenia

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO.**

* * *

.::._Memorize _**me**.::.

...

In (the end), the only _two _people  
that (will **matter **to me)  
is _you_  


**me**.

_..._

_The world is changing.  
and so am I.  
Please, jump, jump, jump;_

_(and teach me how to fly.)  
_

_..._

_..._

Take in the world.

_..._

_Once upon a time,  
there was a boy  
and a girl  
both fragile creatures.  
_

...

...

**Breath. Breath. BREATH!**

...

(_too :: _**fragile**)_  
for the likes of such a

* * *

_

**. B**

**. R**

**. A**

**. V**

**.. N E W**

**-**—**-—O**

**-**—-**—R**

**-**—**-—L**

**-**—**-—D**

_

* * *

_

...

_&train ourselves;_

...

(drip. drip. drip.)

...

In a **world **of _angels_;

::and _one _of **demons**::

are the flightless ones.

They die tonight,

(but are reborn tomorrow).

...

_-&-_

...

"I'm living in a heartless, _heartless _dream."

* * *

He pressed his cold fingertips against her warm skin. Slowly, the Uchiha traced her jawline, examining every waking detail of exposed skin. The girl's chest heaved up and down, up and down—and he almost found it was too slow for his liking. Lowering his dark lashes and twisting his lips in a pensive matter, he got up from his crouching position and looked towards the single, circular window.

Glowering, Sasuke stalked up to the window and examined the large body of water that surrounded him. If he was calculating correctly, since they left about seventeen hours ago, they should be in Waterfall's territory in approximately two to three hours. Sasuke's ears perked at the shuffling noise that was coming from behind him. With his curiosity slightly ignited, the Uchiha turned around to see what Sakura could possibly be doing.

The girl was blinking, rapidly. Her vermilion lips fell ajar for a moment, before quickly shutting; this action was repeated several times. Sasuke was taken by surprise when the girl shot to her feet without a moment's notice.

(**ALARM **. . . . **ALARM **. . . . **ALARM **. . . . **ALARM**)

"No. 451, targets in the vicinity." Sasuke tried his best to mask his confusion; it was that same dead tone he had become accustomed to, long ago. "Repeat. No. 451, target in the vicinity."

"Sakura, shut up." Sasuke snapped. "I don't sense anything."

(**Targets **. . . . 45° . . . . 72° . . . . 33°)

Sasuke stomped up to the kneeling girl, reached down, and squeezed her cheeks, guiding her face to his, as well as bringing her back to reality. "Ignore it." He growled. "The only way to overcome those thoughts, to ignore your imagination...is to disregard them."

Her head tilted and her dull green eyes brightened. Giving a confused look, she blinked again. "What happened?" She asked curiously.

Sasuke sighed with obvious anger to her question. "Nothing..."

"Sasuke-kun?"

"...nothing." He whispered again, finally freeing her head and walking towards the door. "Stay in here and rest." She could almost sense the threat that was underlying his tone. It seemed he was in no mood to deal with her and her antics.

But before Sakura could protest to his departure, the door slammed shut.

"Hmph!" Sakura sung, crossing her arms. The pink-headed girl stood up and walked towards the window she saw Sasuke previously at. "I wonder what you're always thinking about, you weirdo." Her breath hitched when she noticed something floating in the water. "Wha—?"

A bundle of bleach blond and a tan color floating—actually, sinking—next to it.

"Are you alright?" She whispered to the empty room, hoping that it would reach whatever was sinking in the ocean.

("_There's no meaning to a flower unless it blooms._")

...

...

...

It's weird.

Because he is a human, but he resembles a statue.

His face is so placid that it scares her. She has never once understood how he could maintain such a calm composure, so emotionless.

But, no matter how scared she is when he doesn't respond—

It's the epitome of fear, when she finally sees him cry.

"I'm sorry."

...

...

**36. **

(_A flash of a blond hair, sapphire eyed woman, who was sticking her tongue out._)

"I...I need to save her!" Sakura yelled, pounding the window and crying.

(**Analysing** . . . . 1/4 of lung capacity filled with water, growing at a steady rate of .402/minute.)

And the last thing Sakura could remember was the shattering of glass and the feeling of being submerged into the water.

* * *

Naruto was leaning against the wall humming an unknown tune when he heard the large splash. He was forced back into the world the moment he heard Kakashi drop his book and another large splash.

"That fucking _idiot_!" Sasuke shouted, sprinting to the sidelines of the boat. His onyx eyes were scanning every wave and every speck of foam, searching for the girl.

"Sakura...chan?" Naruto barked, readying himself to dive off of the boat. "Sakura-chan!"

The moment the blond-haired boy's feet were off the ground, he was yanked back towards the Uchiha. "Moron, get back here. Kakashi's already after her." Sasuke ordered, and with his free hand, he pointed to a speck of pink and silver.

Sasuke was taken by surprise, however, when he noticed that Sakura wasn't even in the water, nor was she drowning in it; but, she was standing atop of it.

"I thought she didn't know how to use her chakra..." Naruto mused aloud.

Sasuke numbly nodded.

"Maybe there is _some _use for that forehead of her's."

* * *

Sasuke twitched in annoyance when he watched one of the crew members eagerly give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the blond-haired woman. She had a name, she was Sakura's friend, but Sasuke was never one for names—

("_From this day on, I am no longer your friend—but, your rival_.")

"Ino..." Sakura whispered into the wind.

("_I give up. Y...You are the one who deserves Sasuke-kun._")

Naruto's eyes widen and Kakashi lazily looks up at the girl's silhouette. "You remember?"

Sakura looks back up at the two. "H-Huh?" She laughed, "Remember what?"

"You just said her name." Sasuke reminded her. He folded his arms across his chest and glares disapprovingly at the small girl.

Sakura blinked a few more times and finally shook her head. "I did?"

"Aa."

Sakura walked towards Kakashi and spread her arms wide apart. "I get these...images," Sakura paused in her speech and suddenly hugged Kakashi who, after a few minutes, returned the hug, "they appear in my mind—but they go. I see them, b-but... I don't know!" Sakura tightened her hold on Kakashi and choked out a hiccuped breath.

"Sakura..." Sasuke stated in a bland tone, signaling for her to go on; but, Kakashi could hear the threat Sasuke was sending him.

Kakashi took the opportunity to have poke some fun at the Uchiha. He grinned beneath his mask, before patting Sakura on the head in a loving manner. "Go on, _sweetie_."

Sasuke glared at his former teacher and commented dryly, "Fucking pedophile."

Kakashi ignored his comment.

Sakura shrugged and giggled at Kakashi's actions. "Well, it's like..." Her voice trailed off for a few minutes as she glanced at the resting blond. "I have to grab the memories as they race past me, but I can't usually catch them." She then muttered some incoherent speech before finally returning to the conversation.

"My mind fills with an image for a second—maybe two. It's a flash, like an eye or a smile or a scene or, or...a person."

Naruto beamed. "You've seen me, right?"

"Mm." Sakura nodded. "But, I usually hear a voice—a sentence. And...that's it." Sakura's bangs lowered with her face. "That's...it."

Kakashi loosened his hold on Sakura and tilted his head towards the darkening clouds. "You're making progress." He stated in a matter-of-fact tone, yet it was filled with an obvious hope and compassion. "And progress is good."

Naruto stared at his fading team.

"We never really paid much attention, to the tide that swept us away from each other..."

...

...

...

Maybe, if life were different, he could have stayed, and he could have been happy and smiled and laughed and married and had kids with her.

But, that's what he has always hated.

The fact that maybes were just about as reliable as the matters of the heart.

For neither one of them would ever happen.

...

...

**37.**

The blond-haired boy looked at Sasuke, who was now leaning over the boat's side, lost in his own world.

"...and into the achromatic ocean."

* * *

Sasuke's vigilantly perked his head when he sensed two chakra signals coming towards their boat. Lifting up his right hand, he made several hand signals to Naruto, who only gave a perplexed expression. "_Idiot._" Sasuke scowled as his eyes bled red. "There are two coming from the south—wait...one more—there's three...coming from...—"

(**Targets **. . . . 45° . . . . 72° . . . . 33°)

Sasuke frowned and his brows knit tightly together.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt the cool blade of a kunai against his neck.

"Sasuke-kun—!" He heard Sakura gasp, before it died into a quick, abrupt silence.

A cool voice answered the silent question. "Where is she, Uchiha?" The tone sounded annoyed, almost tired.

The raven-haired boy opened his mouth to question how the hell he knew his name; but, by the time his sharingan flashed on and he turned around, the words were useless. "Shikamaru?" Sasuke said in an almost amused voice.

Said boy shrugged and turned his head to Sakura, then to Naruto. "I thought they were captured." He mused aloud.

"Hn." Sasuke was aggravated that Shikamaru hadn't loosened the pressure of the kunai against his throat. He couldn't blame him though, this was a time where you couldn't trust anyone—and Sasuke had already given everyone from his past a reason not to trust him.

"Where is Ino?" Shikamaru demanded.

Sasuke shrugged. "Sleeping."

"Thanks to who?"

"Sakura." He said. The Uchiha eyed the boy, before he finally lowered the kunai himself. Pointing to the cabin several feet behind them, he finally commented, "Take her and leave."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. He was jolted out of his thoughts when Sasuke had shoved him off, causing him to stumble a few feet backwards.

"Shikamaru!" Another voice called out. "What should we do with Ino—she's unconscious?"

It was Naruto's turn to answer. Hooking an arm around the large kid's neck, Naruto grinned sheepishly. "It's been forever since I've seen you guys!" He exclaimed merrily. "Stay until you and your teammates have recuperated!"

Chouji tried to shrug off Naruto, but to no avail did the boy let go.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered to himself, before glancing up to the sight of a smiling Sakura. The corner of his lip curved up in response, giving a half-smile in return. "Thanks...for everything." He said while scratching the back of his head. "I don't know what I would have done, if you didn't save her."

Sakura said nothing as her eyes averted to the clouds. A perplexed facial expression formed and she blinked several times. She didn't know why, but, for some reason, her eyes started stinging.

...

...

...

Her fingers glide up and down the keys with insurmountable grace. Each note she presses, a tune of their long lost pianissimos reside in. A soft smile plays on her lips yet she laughs wickedly.

"Chase the morning, my dearest loves, before we..."

The keys spontaneously go flat, as well as, her tone, and that once beautiful pianissimo turns into a dreadful—

"...crash into our caskets."

—requiem.

...

...

**38.**

"It's your move." Shikamaru reminded the pink-headed girl.

She looked up at him with a blank look, before nodding. "I know." She muttered, finally picking up her Golden General and moving it diagonally. Sakura's brows knit together as she stared confused at the board,; she finally directed her bewildered expression to Shikamaru. "Do you love her?"

"Troublesome." She heard him whisper. Shikamaru looked at Sakura with a dubious expression plastered on his tan face. "Sasuke is rubbing off on you, that is, with your subtle ways I mean." He gave a choked laugh before letting his sarcasm die and a serious tone reappear. "Do you love Sasuke?"

Sakura opened her mouth, before shutting it. "I... I don't understand."

"Hm..." He hummed, glancing behind him—staring at the Uchiha, Chouji, and the others who were sitting in a circle, discussing their lives. "I feel the same way towards Ino, as Sasuke once felt towards you."

_Once felt_..? Her breath caught in her throat. "And what exactly is that?"

Shikamaru blinked, before grazing the wood of the Shōgi board and picking up a Lance. He looked down and smirked, "Checkmate."

She frowned at him; that wasn't the answer she was looking for, but...

"You're tired—next time we play, don't be so distracted." Shikamaru stood up and gave her a wave. "Go get some sleep."

...exactly what was she looking for?

* * *

_Take me away and bring me into your nightmares.  
_

(thump. thump. thump.)

_She tries to reach him before he disappears from her life, forever.  
_

(gasp. gasp. GASP!)

_Their hands connect__—barely grazing one another. __  
_

... ... ...

(THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!)

_Maybe it's their harsh reality__—they never were in a coinciding world.  
_

(BREATH!)

_please—_

(...breath...breath...breath.)

_"I need your love.__"_

(**END OF TRANSMISSION**)

_—kill me__._

_

* * *

_

Sakura was startled into an abrupt awakening when she was picked up from her futon. "What have you done with my Sakura?" It was an angry tone, and it was filled with nostalgia. "Tell me, what have you done with her?!"

Sakura shook her head furiously. "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!" She clamped her eyes shut causing tears to further stream down her face.

"I'll never forgive you._ They'll_ never forgive you, you lost her, you _killed _her!"

Sakura fought her way away from the captor and swiftly backed up as far away as she could go. "I didn't do it! You have to believe me... I didn't!" Sakura pleaded. "I _am _Sakura, I _am_, I..."

Her mouth hung ajar and she took a moment to think about it.

(bang. bang. bang.)

_Wait... _She shook her head, confused. "... Am I?"

(BANG! BANG! BANG!)

"SAKURA—!" The voice screamed in fury, the shadows lunging towards her.

(splatter. splatter. splatter.)

She opened her eyes in fear of an upcoming blow—

...

...

Itachi's lips curve the slightest upwards when he watches Sasuke play with the small, pink-headed girl.

"It is said every strong man has his weak point." He whispers to himself.

Both of them are laughing as they play on the swings and hold each others hands.

"Mine..."

Sasuke looks up to see his big brother watching them, he waves to Itachi.

"...is you."

...

...

**39.**

"_Sakura_."

(thump. thump. thump.)

No one was there.

* * *

He started to scream, but the captor quickly pushed a wad of cloth into his mouth. "Now, now, Kabuto. None of that. You be a good little boy. I told you it won't hurt." Itachi mused for a moment. "Much." He added after a dreaded silence.

There was a blatant fear still present in Kabuto's eyes as he tried to scream again, but all that came out was a muffled choking that made him want to throw up.

Itachi chuckled almost amused at the man's antics. "You understand that screaming will get you no further than your are now." He shrugged off his large cloak and set the black and red garment on the back of a chair. "I don't think you quite comprehend the situation you are in right now." The Uchiha stated with an annoyed tone. "All you have to do, is disclaim Orochimaru's whereabouts and you are free to go."

When an undisclosed amount of time passed, in which Itachi mercilessly began a tortuously slow human dissection, he realized Kabuto's facial expression. Seeing the weakness as the prime opportunity to remove the gag, Itachi did so.

Once removed from his mouth, the article of clothing—newly stained with a mixture of blood and vomit—was tossed heedlessly to the ground. A soft moan greeted Itachi.

"I've always wondered how long a person could survive a dissection without anesthesia." Itachi mused aloud, slowly setting his scalpel to the side and grabbing a needle and thread. "I will begin the sutures, Kabuto, if you give me Orochimaru's location."

"I..." Kabuto took in a long, raspy breath, yet choked on his own saliva. "...don't even know." He breathed with regret. "Orochimaru goes off on his own, I heal him when it's needed..."

Itachi frowned and his eyes began to bleed red.

"The last area I know of..." Another gasp for air. "...that he is going to...Suna...." Another cough compiled of purely blood. "He's going...in f-five days."

...

...

...

"How do I look?" She asks as she spun around, flaunting off her white summer dress.

"I believe that my brother will be more than flattered by your appearance."

She blushes and looks at the tiled flooring.

"You're such a kind brother—"

In the back of his mind, he regretfully knows her words are the antithesis.

"—I'm glad Sasuke has someone like you."

...

...

**40. **

Itachi wryly admitted to being slightly disappointed when Kabuto's head tilted down towards the wadded cloth, a long sling of saliva slowly dripping down his chin.

Apparently, you can't live too long without the anesthesia.

* * *

**A/N:** This story just keeps getting more and more fantasmaglorious.

**Reviews make me write. (:**

EWHH its Kenna


	9. Galleria

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO.**

* * *

(::_Design _me::)

...

Your **world**, my **world**.  
We _live _in this ever-changing  
**s**_o_c**ie**t**_y_**  
and I wonder—

**how **we _manage _to survive.

_..._

_Design me.  
Make me the object of your  
desire.  
Heal. Break. Touch. Desecrate.  
Anything.  
Just...  
_

_(...need me.)  
_

_..._

_..._

**Intake **my _naked _body.

_..._

_In the _end_,  
a story like _this_  
should never have been told.  
we are a _sad_, sad _race_.  
_

...

...

**Breath. Breath. BREATH!**

...

_(too emotional, too fragile, too broken)_

_

* * *

_

for anything:**  
**—**brave**

for anything:  
—**new**

for any:  
—**world**

**

* * *

**

...

_&face ourselves;_

...

(drip. drip. drip.)

...

There _once _was a wild **dog**  
That **dog **_lived _a _life_.  
But one day, that **dog **_died_.  
Did that **dog **have a _name_,  
or was that **dog **just...**dog**?

...

_-&-_

...

He was brushing his teeth in front of her, roughly, vigorously. He had been scrubbing at his body for hours and now scouring his teeth, it was almost humorously identical to that of a surgeon preparing for his next surgery. Almost.

Her radical thoughts were her downfall. She opened her lips and finally spoke to the man before her, not cursing nor condescending him, but merely musing to him.

"I have a dream: To see a faithful man brush away harlotry with a single toothbrush."

* * *

Naruto's bright smile faded the moment the boat reached the dock. His cerulean orbs darkened and his lips pursed in a pensive manner at the sight before him. The dock being worn down did not bother him, but the rats that festered through the crates, the red smears of blood that were presented on the docks decaying wood, and the missing planks did. What was more unexpected was the fact that rain was beginning to take it's toll, a downpour had surprised the team's landing. Only a few hours ago, when they were still sailing on the ship, the sun was out and the sky was bright and cloudless. Here, however, the sky was saturated with blackness and a foreboding aura lingered.

Naruto glanced back to see the Sasuke's or Sakura's expression, for he already knew Kakashi's would be just as grim as his was. Sasuke's facade did not falter, his thin lips were still in their typical line, and his eyes staring blankly into the horizon, or at least what he assumed was the horizon. The Uchiha cupped his hand to resemble that of a visor so he could block the rain from entering his eyes, once settling his hand on his forehead, Naruto caught a clear second of an angered expression. "Hey bastard, I'm not liking this." Naruto advised, walking back up the boat's ramp.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted with an apathetic expression, hinting to Naruto that he could care less.

Sakura had made her way out of the cabin with Kakashi following slowing behind her. She gave a small, shocked squeak when she was greeted with the heavy rain. Pausing to look at the village they were about to enter, she took in a deep breath. She glanced at Sasuke for a moment, her face was filled with a downtrodden and apprehensive look. Her expression quickly turned into a hurt one when Sasuke glanced away without hesitation.

"We will make this trip quick." Kakashi assured the three younger ones. "We will have the rest of the day for venturing, gathering information, and scoping the grounds for the possible whereabouts of our first item." He readjusted his headband so it was casting a shadow on his eyes. The rain now running off his headband and away from his eyes, he continued, "_Sake_."

"Che." Sasuke snorted. "That stupid drunk."

...

...

...

Sakura presses her breast against Naruto, her arms wrap around his waist, and her head burrows into the back of his neck.

"Sometimes, I think about a life without hurt...—"

Naruto lifts his head up high, trying to escape the urges to tell her, touch her, love her.

"—and all I see is you."

And it takes Naruto every ounce of will-power and more

to not tell her, touch her, nor love her.

...

...

**41. **

Kakashi handed each one a key to the room. "You are to return here at twenty-one hundred, don't be late. If you are late, those here will be sent out to search for you; therefore, wasting the time we have to gather these items." He said. His silver brows furrowed a bit, the silhouettes of each kid was opaquing the slightest amount. "You are to split up and do your own searches, I know that each one of you are independent and suitable for that task." He paused, focusing a little more chakra into his eyes. If he was already blind, he would damned well make sure to keep whatever version of sight he could. "I am going to stay here and rest," He sighed in defeat, "I need time to regain my chakra and rest."

Each nodded, but Naruto gave a hesitant thought. "Are you sure we should split up, I mean... Sakura-chan..."

"I'll be fine." Sakura smiled, reassuringly.

Sasuke snorted.

* * *

Sakura stared blankly at all the decomposing bodies she passed, she had to stop four times already to avoid stepping on a pack of rats that passed her. "It's almost exactly like my home." Sakura whispered to herself, her pace not slowing. Her eyes scoped the area looking for any alley's that would lead to a marketplace, or at least some stalls. She had heard of sake before, but to her knowledge, she has never had it. Sake was banned nowadays, and, therefore, the only likely reason they could bribe Tsunade with it.

Her ears perked and her senses heightened when she found a dark galleria. A mixture of moans and yells were originating from inside the opened door, and Sakura was wondering whether or not she was welcomed. Hesitantly, Sakura gathered the courage to place her hand on the door's side and enter the room. Stalls upon end, an innumerable amount of people, crowded, and touching and flirting and bargaining. She ran a hand through her tangled pink locks to wring out some of the rain's water, as well as to keep her bangs from shielding her eyes.

She pressed on into the crowd. This time she took note to all of the glass shards, the syringes, the blood, and the pills that scattered the ground—these were things she would rather avoid stepping on. She accidentally bumped into a few women several different times, but since the room was filled with so much noise, she could only give an apologetic look. Sakura was shocked when someone grabbed her arm, she fought against the hand, but to no avail did they loosen their grip. "Hey, pretty lady. What's your number?" A man yelled to her, he then continued to introduce himself, "I'm No. 2495." Sakura continued tugging at her arm. "You're wanting to buy something? We have all kinds of things at my stall, come."

He dragged her across the room, ignoring the fact that she was tripping over passed out bodies and debris. "I have all sorts of things." He told her, showing her his stall. "Look, I've got organs—doesn't look like you need them though, you look pretty damn fine, but if you know someone... Here, look, I've got some pills, some shooters, Mindical, Orpheum, Zygam. Large syringes to the less noticeable, but those cost more. I even have some sex—if you're interested, I can show you the slaves. We have both men and women, which ever way you swing. There's some—"

"No thanks." Sakura shook her head. She looked behind her too see another man, carrying a long bottle towards the back of the large room. "Sorry, I'm looking for something else." She tried to look give him an apologetic look, but nothing came. Instead, she just turned around and began walking towards the opposite end, maybe there they would have some sake. The man behind her gave her an dull, inert stare before he turned around and began looking for his next possible customer.

...

...

...

_She's_ touching him. She's _touching _him. She's touching _him_.

He tries to escape, he tries to fight and hurt and destroy and break and kill her.

"I love you. I love you. I love you."

She keeps repeating. She keeps repeating it. She keeps repeating it.

She'll repeat it another 1000 times.

He'll only say it once.

...

...

**42.**

Sakura wandered for a while, stall to stall, person to person, but little success was being provided. "Hello?" Sakura called to a woman with red hair.

"No. 28374." The woman said aloud, introducing herself. She then sent Sakura a questioning look and stopped for the girl to catch up. The red-haired woman stared down at Sakura, almost as though she was looking at a virgin. She took a moment to push back her glasses and flick a couple bangs away before asking, "What do you need, No..?"

"Sak—... No. 1178." Sakura filled in for the woman. "Do you know where to find—?"

"You need a new outfit." The red-haired woman said in a definite tone, "Come here to my stall." She beckoned Sakura to follow her as she pushed through the massive crowd, knowing that Sakura was still following her, she began explaining, "You can't come here in such modest clothing, No. 1178." She waited for the girl to get to her side before going into a further depth. "Have you been locked in a room for centuries? No one dresses with such long shorts or a shirt." She pointed to her own clothing then. "See, look. We wear fish nets, midriffs, short skirts, wrap-up heels, that stuff. Do you have a man?" She asked as they arrived at her small store. "Well, I mean, how many different men do you typically sleep with a week?"

"U-Uh..." Sakura bit her lip and looked at the woman pathetically. "My... Well, the guy makes me stay with him. And, well... I like him back, and I don't want to make him angry and..."

Her jaw dropped. "A girl like you, flourishing into a beautiful flower. You can't be kept to one man! You should be out in the world exploring, here, take some of this." The woman said, "It's free. They're just samples, but take some. Maybe it'll improve your love life." She laughed, "Here come this way to the room." She looked at Sakura, who was still staring at the pills she handed her. "Don't be like that, just take them. Quick!"

Sakura was suspicious, but followed the instructions the woman gave her.

(_follow. follow. follow._)

"It's a place that '_Our Father_' created himself." The woman provided, "In here, there are many different samples of items you can try. He wanted us to be happy, bless him, so we are. We are stable just like he planned, a well balanced community." She paused, gave a hearty sigh, and then looked at the pink-haired girl. "I don't understand how you can only sleep with one man, how many times a week do you have sex?"

"I think he's scared." Sakura said sadly. "Or, I mean, maybe I'm bad at it."

She snorted. "He's just a prude. I'm sure he's not to be trusted. It's usually only the corrupt who are prude, who don't believe in '_Our Father's_' beliefs. How everyone—"

"Everyone belongs to everyone." Sakura filled in. The room was very warm, almost too warm.

No. 28374 smiled. "Exactly. Here, why don't you try giving this to him, it should calm him down, loosen him up." She said, handing her a green vial of liquid. "Just put it in a syringe and apply it to the blood stream. A couple of the pills I gave you earlier have a strong dose of this drug in it, if you haven't already noticed the difference in temperature and you're...how do I put this, sexual desire?"

"N-Nuhh." Sakura panted, staring at the woman. Her red-hair was becoming an even more vibrant shade, and her skin paling. Sakura blinked a few times, but the newly acquired hues did not disappear. "I'm..." She paused to intake another breath, "I'm looking for sake." Sakura breathed and then coughed.

...

...

...

His finger traces along her jaw-line, slowly retracing several scars in the process.

She stares at him, because he isn't a touchy-feely, mushy-mushy type of person. She is worried that he has the flu, or small pox or the bubonic plague or prostate cancer or any illogical sickness that would make him abnormal.

"I love you." He whispers into her skin.

And it is so muffled and murmured and slurred and atypical, her heart skipped a beat.

That was the first time in her three years of marriage to him, in her _life_, that he had ever said that.

...

...

**43.**

"It looks like you have been off these drugs for a little too long, their effects are stronger than normal.'" She said in a disappointed tone, "I thought Orochimaru told you that taking these drugs in an unsystematic time period strengthened their side-effects." The woman laughed and patted Sakura's head. "Don't worry, honey, after I'm finished with you, I'll give you whatever items you want, No. 1178."

Sakura's vision went completely black, and the last thing she remembered was falling into the arms of the red-haired woman.

* * *

"Do you believe in love?"

_She's punching and kicking, she'll save them at the cost of her life._  
_—because she loves them._

(pant. pant. pant.)

"Do you believe in living?"

_She's bleeding and hemorrhaging, but it's for them, for you can't live a life without freedom.  
—because she wants them to continue living._

(gasp. gasp. GASP.)

"Do you believe?"

_She's not ready to die, she's not ready because she still had a full life ahead of her. She's scared and honest.  
—because she believes in them. _

(BANG! BANG! BANG!)

_She's punching and kicking, she's bleeding and hemorrhaging, she's broken but fighting. They keep hitting, and hitting and hitting and hitting.  
—because she will do anything for them._

(splatter. splatter. splatter.)

"You have the eyes of a true martyr."

(**END OF TRANSMISSION**)_  
_

* * *

Lights flickered on and off, almost resembling a breaking strobe light. Sasuke's brows furrowed, contemplating whether or not it was even worth going through the area of the town. The rancor of sex filled the already sticky air of the room giving him the urge to vomit, even the heat was unbearable for one with clothes one. All he remembered though was that Sakura had headed in this direction when they dispersed, and that's what worried him. He had been able to keep her in his sight for about an hour in a black market, but when someone grabbed his arm to show off their stall—that's when he lost her.

He remembered seeing Sakura's bright pink hair fusing with red hair, the woman beside her was pointing at Sakura's outfit, and the last thing he saw was her hand something to the girl. Sakura, the all too trusting one, would have accepted and followed any given directions if asked.

Sasuke stiffened when he felt a pair of hands snake around his abdomen from behind. Itching towards his kunai pouch on his thigh, Sasuke spun around, kunai to a red-haired woman's throat. Sasuke's glare heightened, the hue looked the same color as the woman that Sakura had been walking with earlier. "What do you want?" Sasuke hissed, continuing to eye the woman with caution. People in this town were already sketchy enough, when they touched you they could have done millions of things with barely that touch.

"Follow me." She directed him, her hand's letting go of his body, but replacing on his bicep. Sasuke watched carefully as the woman stroked his arm and buried the instigated rage that was burning inside of him.

When the woman finally let go of his arm, Sasuke stared at the building in front of him that resembled a hut.

"Follow me, please..."

And, he pushed any craving to walk away down, and, for some reason, did as he was told. "Where are we?" He questioned, examining every wakening detail of the building he had now entered.

The building was darker than it was on the outside, a fleeting light was dimmed approximately every hundred feet in the hallway. Sasuke noted the sight of a few rats running around and eating what looked like...limbs? He frowned, it somehow reminded him of that hell-hole he escaped from. Blood was dripping from the ceiling, the smell of mold and sex filled the air that surrounded him. Moans were emanating from the rooms to his left and right, in the never-ending hallway, right before there was the light, there was a room to both sides of him.

When he tried to look inside, it was almost pure black, once in a while he would catch the gleaming of skin. He only could hear the movements of two bodies, the groans of the man, and the gasps of the woman. He averted his eyes in pure disgust.

"Where are we?" Sasuke repeated his question.

The woman smiled and her hand shot down to his when the reached the end of the hallway. There was only one room to his left, and a blood-spattered cement wall to his left. She guided him into the room before him, and a dim light filtered into this room. "This is our whorehouse."

...

...

...

Itachi.

He did this.

He has destroyed everything in his life.

And to think that this man still has the courage to call him, Sasuke, his brother.

He had looked up to him for—

forever plus one years.

But, he...

He destroyed _him_—

in only one day.

...

...

**44. **

The Uchiha stared wide-eyed into the room, he could see the pink-hair that gleamed under the dimmed light, and the skin that was being revealed. He took note of the shadow that loomed in the opposite corner, the shadows covering his body. His fists began to clench tightly, the previous confusion blending into a paralyzing shock.

Hate, rage, shame, regret, every emotion he has ever and never experienced was running through his veins. Before he could turn around and slay the woman behind him, he felt a prick against the back of his neck.

"F-Fuck..." Sasuke gasped, falling to the ground.

A small chuckle was emanating the room. "_Ku...ku...ku..._" Sasuke narrowed his onyx eyes, trying his best to see the silhouette of the man; yet, to no avail could he see any definition of the figure.

The touches that he felt against his back evaporated and the woman behind him was nowhere to be found. All he heard was the sliding of the door behind him, locking him in the room with the girl. The Uchiha slumped against the cement door behind him, falling gracelessly to the ground.

"Don't you see what you are doing, No. 451?" The man asked, slowly his steps began echoing inside the room. "Look at the girl, _Sakura_...I believe you called her?"

The tenseness of his muscles dimmed, the emotions that were running through him completely disappeared, and the need for the body that was crumpled on the ground across the room for him intensified ten-fold. "G-Guh...—" Sasuke moaned aloud, shaking, crawling his way towards the girl on the ground. "Sakura...who d-did this to you?" Sasuke managed to choke out, his fingers grazing the tips of hers.

"Nu-uh, uh." The voice hissed, the shadow now unfolding. The dim light scattered onto the man's _whitewhitewhite_ face and Sasuke fought the urge to curse the man. "You really want to touch her some more, No. 451...Oh wait, I mean..._Sasuke-kun_?"

The girl was laying in the corner, her face was blank, but there was an emotion next to despair that her eyes displayed. Her nakedness, made Sasuke shake, the bruises, the cuts, the blood. Sasuke's fingers that had previously been grazing Sakura's was now grasping for the girl's hand desperately.

(the blood, the blood, the blood.)

Touch it.

_Taste _it.

Touch it. Touch it.

Taste it. Taste it.

"Who did this to you?" Sasuke spat at the girl, shaking her forearm, shaking her, pleading her to tell him.

Those once green, green eyes didn't glance towards him, but continued staring blankly through him. "S-SAKURA!" Sasuke screamed, his body trying to fight the drug the woman shot into him. "FUCKING ANSWER ME!" He scowled and scathed and hissed and yelled.

"This is what happens when you are around the corrupted." The man shrugged, his white hand stretching to stroke a pale pink strand of hair from Sakura's face.

Sasuke thrashed. "Don't touch her."

"I told you, Sasuke-kun. You did this to her—you are _corrupting _her." He then laughed and threw a kick to Sasuke's ribs. "You touch her, you talk to her, you breathe near her, you make her _remember_. Everything you _fucking _do, destroys all the work I put into her, into this _society._"

"O-Orochimaru..." He breathed, the name stinging his numb body. "This isn't a fucking society." Sasuke growled. "You have destroyed our government, I'll be damned if I don't '_corrupt_' this world."

"And that's why, my dearest Sasuke-kun, I am going to _break_ you...—"

...

...

...

He leaves her once at the offer of strength, power—his own corruption.

He comes back

"I love you with all of my heart!"

(for her).

She leaves him once for the sake of lives, for the sake of true love—for his sake.

"Thank you."

She can't find her way back.

...

...

**45.**

"Sasuke-kun...—"

He can feel Sakura's still beating heart, he can see her eyes still so dead inside, and he can see her chest rise up and down with her breaths. She managed to choke out a single sob, before one of Orochimaru's snakes began to wrap around her throat.

"We are the dead."

* * *

**A/N:** Fantasterrificul is so a word. Fantasterrificul is this story.

**Reviews make me write. (:**

EWHH its Kenna


	10. Euphoria

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO.**

**Warning: **/Lemon/

* * *

(. _C a r r e s s _.:.m e—)

…

…

(thump. thump. thump.)

…

…

_A world without you,  
does it exist?  
My world…—_

_It revolves around:  
your kiss, your grasp,  
your desires, your needs_

…

…

_It revolves around:  
_you.

…

…

(bang. bang. bang.)

…

…

_It the ._**e n d**—_  
I will do  
_.**a n y t h I n g**_—  
_

_just _

_to_

_make_

_you_

…

…

(splatter  
**drip**

splatter  
**drip**

splatter  
_**drip**_  
.)

…

…

._**l o v e ( m e )**_—

…

…

**breath. breath. BREATHE.**

…

…

_(you dried my veins with your blisteringly-sweetheroin.)_

* * *

**B R  
A V E  
**—  
**N E W  
**—  
**W O R**

**L D**

* * *

…

(& _seclude ourselves_)

…

(shatter. shatter. shatter.)

…

In her **vein**s, did she **inject**  
the **wilt**ed blossoms of **last** year's  
spring.  
Who knew (**!**) that you **couldn't** revive  
some**thing** that was al**ready**  
_dead_.

…

…

"Do you really _like_ being alone?"

* * *

All he could remember was blood.

So

much

_fucking_

blood.

Blood. Blood. Blood.

_Weak. Weak. Weak._

His blood.

Screams.

_Run—_

"SAKURA—!"

Fresh, fresh blood.

Tearing flesh.

—_cling to life._

"I love you, Sasuke-kun."

Her blood.

"I-I need you…—"

_Fear me._

Her hands against his cheek, shaking, shaking…

(Orochimaru drowning, laughing, playing)

…shaking.

(in blood.)

"I _love_ you."

_Ku ku ku ku—_

BLOOD.

And, his world went black.

* * *

...

...

...

"W-What did you do to him?" She screams, horror-struck.

The black-haired man chuckles quietly

(_ku ku ku_—)

"I gave him what he desired."

She cries, tears streaming elegantly down her face. She presses his lax body into her bosom and she holds him tightly.

Never letting go.

"I'll… I'll do anything!" She whimpers, she pleads, she desperately sobs. "Just, just…—"

(_ku ku ku_—)

Power.

(_ku ku ku_—)

"—fix him."

...

...

**46.**

"This was just a warning, I'm sure, Sasuke." Kakashi warned, as he placed the ointment on the slashed sector of Sasuke's cheek. "You are going to need to be more careful with that goddamn snake. He is after your eyes, you know…" Kakashi paused for a moment before correcting himself, "Your eyes _and_ Sakura."

Sasuke scoffed and sent his stare towards Naruto and Sakura. Naruto was hovering over the silent girl, her wounds slowly healing due to her involuntary chakra usage. He was stroking her ragged pink hair and glaring at her new clothes with a dumbfounded expression. "I can't believe these are the clothes you have to wear now…" Naruto mumbled, aghast.

The only garment that the team could manage to pilfer were black micro-shorts, torn fishnets, too-high of heels, and a torn, so it exposed her collar and midriff, red t-shirt. Naruto knew that Sasuke wanted to murder him for finding these clothes. But, it was honestly the only ones he could manage. The Uchiha should at least appreciate that she _was_ wearing clothes.

"Thankfully," Kakashi continued, "Sakura was able to wake up before Orochimaru could finish killing you. If it weren't for your Sharingan giving out—for reasons unknown—you would have been able to manage on your own…" Kakashi closed the ointment's container and patted the boy on the shoulder. "It's not like Orochimaru to not have accomplices with him for a fight though. It's strange…to say the least, for him to pull such an extreme action."

Sasuke gave a curt nod, before he stood up. "Hn." He grunted. He weakly staggered upright before beginning a trudge towards the girl, her bright emerald eyes calculating his every movement.

"Sasuke-kun," she began, "Thank you."

_("Sakura," He mumbled into the crest of her right ear, "Thank you."_

_Her world went black._)

Sakura fought the urge to scream, her head throbbing with unbelievable pain as memories streamed throughout her entire body. She buried her head into her knees and let out a sobbing moan. "For everything." She finished, hearing his last words to her, long, long ago, filter through her mouth.

He hesitated. He was unsure if these words that were sung from her mouth were coincidental, or if she actually remembered that. Because, all he knew is that he didn't want her to remember that memory. He hoped for his initial guess.

"We can go to the Tachibana Inn that was at the entrance." Naruto suggested. "We need rest, especially Sasuke." He gave a quick glance to the scowling Uchiha and then shrugged his shoulders. "I'm only saying it, because it's true, bastard."

Sasuke grabbed Sakura's limp hand and lifted her up. "Aa," he grumbled. "Let's head over now, we can recuperate there. We'll continue the mission tomorrow, I suppose." He sounded annoyed; but, no one paid heed to his aggravation.

...

...

...

She always keeps the door closed; she always has her body completely under the blanket; she always _needs_ to be pressed against his chest—

And, his grip never falters.

"What are you so afraid of anyways?"

—to sleep.

It's hers words that linger in the silent room…that scare him the most.

"Disappearing."

...

...

**47.**

"We'll take two rooms." Kakashi drawled to the woman inn keeper. "One for the two _love birds_ over there," he smiled, nodding his head towards Sasuke and Sakura—receiving a glare and an innocent blink. "The other for us," he finished, referring to Naruto and him.

The inn keeper smiled. She placed one of the keys in Kakashi's hand, the other in Sasuke's hand. "Have fun, sweetie," the woman grinned, flashing a wink.

Sasuke stole the key without much of a hint of a "Thank you" and marched down the hallway.

Kakashi rolled his eyes at Sasuke's immature behavior and apologized to the woman. "Ignore him, please," he began, "he has what most people would call…" He let a pause linger, looking for the right words to explain it, "…erectile dysfunction."

The woman gave a giggle. "That poor girl…" She shook her head, "Tsk. For such a handsome young boy, she must be so upset. Maybe you should help her with her sexual frustrations then, love. She's too pretty to let go to waste."

Kakashi twitched, awkwardly. "Maybe," he chuckled, "maybe."

* * *

"If I were to trust you…"

(breathe. breathe. BREATHE!)

"…would you stay by my side?"

(run. run. jump.)

"If I were to trust you…"

(drip. drip. splatter.)

"…would you eventually love me?"

(splatter. drip. drip.)

"I… I already do…"

(thump. thump. thump.)

"SAKURA—!"

**(END OF TRANSMISSION)**

* * *

Sakura stared effortlessly at the raven-locked boy as he discarded his shirt and laid placidly upon the squeaky, spring mattress. He had placed both palms against his closed eyes, elbows in air, and he let out a heavy sigh. "You are going to need to rest, Sakura." He mumbled, not wanting to recall the previous occurrences of the day.

"I will, don't worry, Sasuke-kun." She said, merrily.

He removed his hands from his face and eyed her, warily, cautiously. "Why are you so happy?" He glowered. Why was she always so happy? It was obnoxious, to say the least. Doesn't she understand the world they were living in? They lived in a world of lost hopes and bittersweet lullabies, a world of destruction thriving off pain, off happiness, off loss. She survived off her childish naivete. It was absurd, completely, _utterly_ absurd.

Sakura was about to remove her clothes until Sasuke gave out a heavy sigh. "Don't do that." He glared. "Keep your clothes on, Sakura." He hinted a forsaken warning in his tone. He would grovel, if need be, for her to keep her clothes on. He doesn't want to take consideration for any lust, of any desire, or anything that could stray him away from his mission.

(saving her.)

She gave him a peculiar look and stopped. She gave a pout of dismay and a threatening look to ignore his orders. "Why are you so mean, Sasuke-kun!" She dryly asked, painful frustration in her once-angelic tone. She brought her hands off the bottom of her shirt and set them upon her hips, giving him a severe glare.

He rolled his eyes, ignoring her child-like antics. "Whatever." He replaced the pads of his fingers against the lining of his forehead and pressed the palms of his hands harshly against his eyes. Never had his sharingan failed him, like they did in the battle with Orochimaru. What possibly could have gone awry? He depended on these eyes to win his battles when he was fighting someone of such high caliber. What if they give out _again_? "Fuck…" He whispered under his breath with an emotion borderline of horror. He didn't want to risk taking that chance; but, what choice did he have?

Sakura picked up the messenger bag that she had previously discarded and walked into the bathroom. "Do you want a drink?" She inquired from the bathroom as she picked up two cups that resided by the dirty sink. She disregarded the rust that stained the bottom of the sink and turned the faucet on. Carefully rinsing and scrubbing both of the glasses, similar to that of a surgeon preparing for surgery, she displayed a triumphant grin when they glasses appeared (relatively) clean to the naked eye.

"Aa," he answered, half-heartedly, "sure."

Sakura opened the messenger bag, producing eight bottles of sake. She opened the first bottle with ease and slowly poured two waterfalls of alcohol into the glasses. Setting the bottle on top of the countertop, she laid the bag against the wall, and proceeded to walk back into the bedroom. She sat at the corner of the bed and waited for him to sit up-right. "Here," she cheerfully said, handing him the cup with an accomplished look.

He took the glass from her and gave a blank look into the glass. The entire time he was staring at the glass, Sakura had already finished her drink. Sasuke brought the glass to his chapped lips and sniffed the cup's contents. Unsure of whether or not his assumption was correct, he let the liquid touch his lips. "Is this…"

Sakura grinned, vivaciously. "Sake!"

"You… You _idiot_!" Sasuke howled. "You weren't supposed to open the bottle! We were supposed to bring Tsunade _three_ of these!" Sasuke growled, slamming the glass on the already broken nightstand. "How…did you even get this? And, I…" Sasuke stole her cup, a terrorizing expression laid out on his face. "Goddamnit, why did you open this?"

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura laughed. He was always quick to assume.

"You're… You're _laughing_?" He couldn't believe it. She always found some way to screw up his mission, his mind, his _life_.

"…I got eight bottles!" She disclaimed, trying to retrieve her stolen cup from him. He paused for a moment, tentative to believe what she had said, before uncertainly returning her glass. "Why can you never enjoy anything…" She whined, walking back to the bathroom.

This time she brought out the entire bottle of sake.

"Just drink with me, Sasuke-kun." Sakura complained, reclaiming her seat at the corner of the bed. "It won't do you any harm." She poured herself another glass. Her eyes, looked shyly at him, at his naked torso, and then she nodded her head towards his cup. "_Please_. I just want you to be happy." She continued, "Be happy _with_ me."

After much inner turmoil, Sasuke picked up his own glass and downed his drink. He mockingly hissed, "_Happy_?"

She ignored his attempt at insult, and smiled. Finishing off her second drink, she poured more sake into their cups. "Yes," she admitted timidly, "I think I am."

...

...

...

The moment she dismembers his body, the moment she touches him, burning him with her love, she reveals the biggest mess, the biggest disaster, the biggest corruption that is known to this world.

"I don't care what you are," she firmly states.

That biggest mess that he knows can never be fixed.

"I will always love you."

So much.

So much.

...

...

**48.**

Sakura grumbled when she tried pouring the more sake from their fourth empty bottle. "Mou, Sasuke-kun," she drawled, "will you go get our last bottle, _please_?" Her tongue clicked at the roof of her mouth at the end of her sentence.

Sasuke, surprisingly, and slightly drunk himself, obliged.

Lifting himself off the edge of the bed, he stalked into the bathroom and claimed their last bottle. He was never much of a drinker, so he doesn't even understand why he fell into her proposal of drinking sake with her. They could have brought those extra bottles to Tsunade to help make her more enthralled about helping them, helping him, helping Sakura.

Though, he didn't really have any worries about Tsunade refusing to help them. Tsunade _was _like a mother to Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakrua moaned, loudly, returning his attention to his task.

Sasuke grunted, "Hn." Steadying himself with the wall, he returned to the bed. "Here," he mumbled opening and pouring the bottle into his and Sakura's cups. Taking his seat beside her, Sakura laughed.

"It's nice, you know?"

Sasuke was confused. "W-What?"

"To ignore our crashing world, even if it's just for a little bit. Eh?"

He didn't respond, but gave a slight nod.

Sakura abruptly stood up. "I miss you Sasuke-kun." She stumbled haphazardly due to her unnecessarily large heels. Falling to the ground with a light _thud_, Sakura giggled even more. She slowly, unsurely took off her heels, then her fishnets, then her micro shorts—

"S-Sakura!" Sasuke hissed, realizing her growing nakedness.

—then her shirt. "What?" She drawled. "Why can't I take off my clothes? You don't have a shirt on!"

"There's a difference." He sighed. He stood up, shortly after speaking, and then bent down to begin helping her put her clothes back on.

"No!" Sakura shouted, slapping his hand away. "I'm taking off my clothes."

"Sakura, stop being ridiculous." Sasuke scowled, his hand grabbing hers and bringing him closer to her. At their proximity, their noses touched and their breaths ragged on one another. "Put your clothes back on. You look absurd in your undergarments."

Sakura tilted her head and gave the Uchiha a quick peck on his lips. "Why do you never want to have sex, Sasuke-kun? Is it because your gay?"

Sasuke gave a twitch of annoyance. "You… You are stupid."

"I want to have sex with you!" Sakura complained. "Do you think I'm unattractive, is that why?" Sakura looked down at her bra. Unsnapping it, she looked at her unveiled, firm breasts. "Are my breasts too small?"

Sasuke, wide-eyed, flustered, looked away. "Sakura." He warned.

"Or, my panties…" Sakura began to inch her fingers towards the hem of her underwear, readying to take them off.

He hissed, acid underlying the word, "Don't."

She carried his face back towards her, she looked into his eyes, kissed him once more, and he felt a prick in the side of his neck. "Love me." Sakura moaned into his ear, "That's all I want from you."

"W-What did… What did you give me, Sakura?" Sasuke growled, feeling the side of his neck for the syringe. "What the hell…—!"

He felt it surge through his veins.

Adrenaline.

Festering need.

Thrashing desire.

Everything.

In the open.

"Sasuke-kun,"

He blinked, lips twitching, eyes unfocused, previously contained and pushed aside lust—

(and love)

—unleashed.

"Love me." She drawled, her tongue flicking the lobe of his ear.

* * *

...

...

...

He remembers their first time.

It was…

Heart against heart.

Breathing life into one another.

It was…

Creating a rhythmic beat, in unison.

Hand clamped tightly against hand.

It was…

Sweat, lingering, residing.

Angelic beauty which she radiated.

…happiness.

...

...

**49.**

It was the moment she brought the palm of hand against the back of sweating neck, that he lost control. She brought him closer, closer, closer and he could feel her hot breath against his cheek. Her lips grazing the crest of his ear lobe, she whispers, "You're my everything. I want you to have all of me...—"

He no longer even contemplated the fact that he should hesitate, he didn't bother to try and understand her words. All he could feel was the urge, all of the urge and desire he had been suppressing in since he retrieved her, since he lost her—all of it broke free.

And, he followed through with her sweet temptation.

He gluttonously captured her lips, sucking, nipping, and dancing with her tongue. He swiftly laid her body upon the bed and pinned her underneath his heavily breathing body. The kiss continually changed; yet, his tongues violent intrusion never once seemed to falter. The tempo was sporadic, fast, to slow, then to fast again. She mewled underneath him, pulling him in closer.

She wanted him as close as possible; she didn't care if she couldn't breathe, she just wanted to breathe him in. She wanted to breathe in him and the intoxicating fumes that he emanated. All those musky, clean aromas that sent her body, her mind into a craze. Her body begged her for him, for her memories of him, for the world to revolve around only the two of them. And, she would do everything in her power to get that.

Her hands fisted his thick hair and she heard him growl, his hands moving up and down her body, slowly gripping, kneading her breasts. She moaned. Crushing her lips harder against his, she began to grind against his body an erratic pulse that caused him to pant. He broke apart from her and stared at her with hazy, lust-filled eyes.

To him, she was the most beautiful he has seen her in years. Her hair was splayed in an unsystematic pattern about the pillow beneath her; it was shaped almost like that of a halo. He shook his head to try to restrain, to control, his usurping desire. She breathed intensely and stared at him with paradoxically craving, innocent eyes. He blinked, brought his hands to the sides of her face, and made sensual circles on her temples with the pads of his thumbs.

She raised her body up and crashed her lips back against his. His breath hitched as hers quickened, and she leaned up, switching their positions. She sat on top of his groin, her breasts pressed firmly against his chest, and her tongue was attached to the nape of his neck. He repressed a moan. His hands slid steadily down the small of her back and made a strong grip against her butt. He pulled her closer as she bit his neck, moaning at the same time.

He needed her.

So goddamn much.

_Weak. Weak. Weak._

She was, if anything, so fucking…

She began grinding her hips against his, moving in a slow up and down pattern. She brought her lips to his, stealing them into a sweet bliss. "F-Fuck." He growled, he panted. His tongue flicked against hers and shoved it in the crevice as deep as possible. He ground against her body, pulling her into his chest, and moving her up and down, up and down.

…_addictive_.

She moaned. "Sasuke-kun…" She broke away from the kiss, lips still parted in a small smirk, and she remained an inch away from him. He tried to capture her lips again, but to no avail. She laughed, her head bobbing back with each time he tried. An obvious annoyed expression plastered itself upon his face, and he took one of his hands to the crown of her head, and pushed her lips back onto his. "Mmm…—"

She wrapped her legs tighter against his and began going faster in her grind, it lasted for only a few minutes until he flipped her. Lying her underneath him on the bed, he placed his right knee firmly between her thighs, he smirked when he heard her gasp in pleasure. Kissing her, his lips traveled down her neck, which received a heavy inhale, licked around her collar bone, and finally made their way to her breasts, wrapping themselves around her perky nipples. She moaned in pleasure as he worked her right breast with his mouth, her left with his stolid grip, and his knee gratifyingly moving about her crotch.

Her entire body was trembling at the sensation he was wracking upon her body. "Sasuke-k-…_kun—"_ She gasped, latching her fingers into his hair and bringing him down, heavier on her body. Her breaths were ragged.

Sasuke felt as though her were going mad. He couldn't hold back any longer; but, he wanted this to be, per se, romantic—or, at least, as romantic as he could make it in this world. He wanted this to be memorable to her, so she would remember their many other times of desire, of passion, of love. But, he didn't know how much longer he could hold himself back.

He was going fucking _insane_.

She whimpered his name as his hands traveled down to her panties.

Goddamnit.

Goddamnit.

_Fuck_.

"I want you inside me…" Sakura murmured, lifting his head up so he could see her eyes. "I _need_ you inside of me." His onyx eyes stare into hers and he can't define what emotions she was feeling at this time, because this wasn't just lust, this wasn't just desire, it was something more.

And, he couldn't deny that. He couldn't deny all of their memories, he couldn't deny making more memories with her.

I need you.

I need you.

His fingers easily slipped underneath her panties and inside of her, at first creating a steady rhythm, before turning eclectic. She moaned louder and louder, and he held back his groans when he felt her trying to pull the hem of his pants down. She grounded up with his exiting fingers, bringing his hips against hers. "Fuck, Sakura…" He hissed, his forehead was resting in the nape of her neck, panting devilishly. His fingers began moving faster and faster and suddenly her arms wrapped around his torso and she screamed in ecstasy.

I love you.

I…

I fucking

_love_ you.

She slipped out of her underwear, tossing them heedlessly aside. Her small fingers slid down his muscular, scarred body and fumbled quickly against the hem of his pants. She managed to unbuckle the belt and pull them down to the middle of his thighs. He chuckled at her antsy behavior and pressed his lips against hers, while he slid his pants down to his knees.

He came to an abrupt halt in his kiss, swiftly breaking away, the moment he felt her hands against his member. She moved them up and down the length of his shaft. "Sasuke-kun, _please_!" She whined. Both too aroused to wait any longer, Sasuke placed another rough kiss before plunging deep inside her.

Breaking away, he listened to her mewls that were a mixture of both pain and pleasure. She grabbed his firm ass, pulling her deeper inside of her.

"Fuck…—Sakura!" He harshly gasped.

Sakura gulped, trying to catch her breath as he continued his assault on her lips and continued to move deeper and deeper inside of her. Her legs wrapped around his body as he stretched her core, thrusting himself faster into her. "Ah, ah… Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed, her arms draped around his neck, pulling him into an obsessive kiss. She moaned into him, causing him to feel a need to fuck her harder. He growled with each thrust, rocking her back and forth with him, in and out. She screamed louder and louder. She clawed at his back as he kneaded her breasts, before he eventually began another oral attack with his tongue.

She was so beautiful.

He understood that none of this was desire.

He understood more than anything, this wasn't just…

This wasn't just a fuck.

Her sore legs bucked against his body, with his rhythm, as she injected into him her painfully sweet addiction. He slowed down for a short moment, adjusting himself to where he discovered a way for more force, more leverage. Slamming his pelvis against hers, he quickened the pace, he fucked her harder against the squeaking mattress. "Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun, Sa-Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried, "God… God, I fucking," Sakura moaned—louder, louder.

_It felt so goddamn good…_

"Ohh, ohh!" Sakura screamed.

_Weak. Weak. Weak_.

This wasn't just a goddamn fuck.

Keeping an uneven tempo, Sasuke pounded inside of her, sending her into an insane bliss. He was wracking her brain, he was making her insane. His every thrust brought him further and further into her body, into her mind and soul and heart. His every thrust brought her back to him.

_Mine. Mine. Mine._

She threw her head back, crying out loud. She screamed as she came heavily, violently; she screamed as the white flashed before her eyes, as the numerous memories flashed before her eyes—

(_"Sakura," he firmly asked, "are you…are you sure you want to do this?" _

"_Sasuke-kun," Sakura shyly whispered, her hands wrapped around his hips, "I love you with all of my heart… I want to be your everything." _

_He looked away. "You…" He sighed, swearing he would never repeat such uncalled for words again in his lifetime, "…you already are.")_

This was so much fucking more than that.

…

…

…

The moment their worlds collided,

the universe shattered due to such powerful

dissonance.

"We were never meant to be." He says, simple and straight-forward.

She shakes her head, smiles, and kisses him with such...such love.

"I don't believe that."

He raises a brow and snorts, "why not?"

She shrugs.

"Because you always lie to yourself."

…

…

**50.**

Sasuke felt the pleasurable, violent spasms fly down his spine as his fluid burst inside of her. "S-Sakura," he growled her name, his thrusts slowly coming to a complete stop. Pulling out of her, his support finally gave way and he collapsed on top of her, panting uncontrollably.

"I love you with all my heart." Sakura whispered. Her arms wrapped around his hips. "I want to be your everything!" Tears were streaming down her emerald green eyes.

She felt him raise himself up, supporting himself on his currently weak elbows and knees. He looked down at her, seeing the numerous red blotches decorating her skin, seeing her bruised lips, seeing her shining, beautiful eyes. Lifting one elbow, he softly brushed away the tear that was streaming down the left side of her face.

He slowly, hesitantly placed a passionate kiss upon her lips.

_Run, cling to life… Hate me… Hate everyone… Hate the world. _

He lied to himself years ago, when he swore he would never repeat such uncalled for words.

_Mine. Mine. Mine._

"You already are."

He smirked.

This was love.

* * *

**A/N:** So I realized I've been blue-balling Sasuke this entire story. So, I figured I had to write a lemon. Except, the problem is, I have never written a lemon before, so I kind of just...winged it. Haha. I feel proud of myself, though I thought it was relatively grody, or raunchy, to write. I think I'm going to stick with hints of sex from now on instead of full-fledged descriptions, unless you guys want the lemons. I'm down for either, nbd.

I like to surprise, don't I? I mean, I haven't updated this story in more than a _year_. My bad. I made up for it with an extremely long chapter, alright? I thought I was done with fanfiction; but, the fact that I still keep getting reviews, I feel horrible if I leave any of my stories unfinished. And, I'm sort of getting back into fanfiction.

If only Kishimoto would stop being a douchebag with his storyline and bring Sasuke (and Sakura— even though she was rarely in it to begin with...) back into the manga, I would be writing more.

Anyways, tell me what you think! I love to hear from you guys, and it was with your support that I started writing fanfiction again! Let me know what you guys want! I aim to please. :D

**Reviews make me write. (:**

EWHH its Kenna


	11. Minutia

**DISCLAIMER**: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.

**Warning**: Idk. Probably something. It's dark, as always. It's rated 'M,' so whatevs. :3

* * *

[—Escape me—]

…

The_ icing_ of the swollen lion's tongue  
flickers against the _drowning leper._  
Foreboding as it be and as demeaning as _we are,_  
the crying prayers are _still unheard_ at the altar.

…

…

(thump. thump. thump.)

…

…

**Kiss** of _death_,  
_betrayal_ **sworn**.

…

I'll outrun your demons for you.

…

…

(bang. bang. bang.)

…

…

'Tis the end of days  
A frightened lamb  
Stolen sight  
Forgotten words

…

Breathe. Breathe.

BREATHE.

…

…

…

_I'll be your_

…

…

&resent ourselves;

…

(drip.

drip.

drip—)

…

(**drip**—_splatter_—**dripdrip**—_splatter_)

…

…

_Salvation_.

…

…

(_Cling to life_—)

Run.

(Weak. Weak. Weak.)

Jump.

(Foolish.)

Fall.

…

…

She cries and presses her tainted ruby lips to his.

"No one will ever know the truth."

* * *

...

...

...

Her breath skims and seeps and blisters the perspiring, scarred skin of the older man. The body on top of him collapses, her nakedness clinging to his own. She places a cauterizing kiss upon his pulse.

"You are an infamous man and a forgotten brother."

His hold on her tightens at her words, regret and worry and sadness dripping from their bodies.

"And, yet, you are the best thing that could have ever happened to him."

…

…

**51.**

One of Sasuke's greatest regrets is waking up alone. He has done it almost every day of his life. When he wakes up alone, he realizes how alone he truly is. It reminds him of losing everything, losing everyone he has ever cared about. He watches the embers tear away at the family members and friends and broken homes in the depths of his mind; he watches and lives in the darkness with unnatural clarity.

There have been few people that Sasuke has awoken to.

The first one was his mother, Mikoto.

She would sing to him and caress him and love him until he fell asleep in her arms. He would wake up and she would smile, beautifully. Her smile would light up his world; eat away at any foreboding darkness that was building up inside of him. And, piquing his eyes open to that smile, he would feel fuller of love, of contentment, and of enrichment than he has ever felt.

The second one was his brother, Itachi.

He would protect him from the evil monsters under his bed, wade on him when he was sick, and read stories to him until he'd pass out in Itachi's bed. He would wake up to lazy onyx eyes and a light poking on the forehead. This gesture would make him feel stronger; it would warn him that this was just the beginning and how he still had a deceitfully endless path in front of him. And, whining to that poke, he would feel more respected, honored, and treasured than he had ever known Itachi to give.

The last one was his lover, Sakura.

She would cling to him when they made love, she would cry to him when she lost a patient—when she lost her parents—and she would cuddle up and fall asleep on him in the middle of conversation; he would grip her as though she were to disappear when they made love, he would rest his head upon her bust and remember all of the pain and suffering they have both been through—all because of him—and he could fall asleep next to her, because she was the only one who could cure his insomnia.

He would wake up to her scent, her body, her shining emerald eyes, and her radiating smile—the one that reminded him so much of his mother. And, adjusting his body to pull her closer, he would feel the most content that he could ever feel, because this was what he wanted, needed, and fully desired; and, this was what he had.

He had found the person he wanted to wake up to every day, for the rest of his life.

But, today, Sasuke Uchiha woke up alone.

* * *

**B**-**R**-**A**-**V**-**E** - **N**-**E**-**W** - **W**-**O**-**R**-**L**-**D**

* * *

Itachi could wryly admit that he hated the country of Suna. He felt it was one of the worst places to visit; not only was it extremely unkempt, it was unnaturally hot. Itachi loathed heated environments, it probably started back in the days when Akatsuki still existed—that dreaded cloak. He shook the thought from his mind, he was never one to _actually_ complain about such menial things—though, then again, he was never really one to complain about anything.

His steps were steady, slow; his eyes were calculating, never missing a single detail; and, his mind was focused on one goal: finding Orochimaru.

That fool, Kabuto, was of no use to him. The kid died too quickly before giving any well-articulated whereabouts and information on Orochimaru's current status. Itachi inwardly scoffed, he never understood why Orochimaru had kept that kid around. He was _alright_ with medicine, compared to that of Tsunade or Sakura, of average intelligence, lacked wit, and had absolutely no strength or endurance. Itachi laughed, mockingly, and muttered under his breath, "such a fool."

He marveled at the idea of following Sakura, of following Sasuke and Naruto and Kakashi; but, it was too risky. He knew that it would be easy to contact Sakura again; however, the process of attaining more information from her was growing more and more complicated. It seemed that his brother was placing a vice-like hold on the kunoichi, watching her so closely to where she was rarely out of his sight.

Then again, Sakura was a naturally independent character. The moment she starts to feel smothered—the moment she starts to feel like she's drowning—she escapes. And with the knowledge of Sasuke recently attaining his former wife, once again, Itachi knew that Sakura was bound to continually disappear on her team.

Even if Orochimaru were to be in Suna, trying to isolate any people that may catalyze a destruction of his formidable government, the likeliness of Orochimaru returning to antagonize his brother was more likely. The Uchiha's brow creased and a frown formed delicately on his lips.

Subsequently, the more Orochimaru were to antagonize Sasuke, the more Sasuke would be to lose composure and sight. Unlike Itachi, Sasuke was easily susceptible to antagonistic behavior, leading quick to brash, irrational anger—in turn, the involuntary reaction that occurs due to said emotions ruins the realization of potentially harmful consequences. This was a prominent dilemma in Itachi's plan.

The only weakness to Team 7 was, in result, Sasuke. He was the only one that was obdurate and hard-headed enough to walk a separate path rather than work and live in unison. If there was even a spark to rekindle the hatred and anger inside of the young Uchiha's heart, it would consequentially be the downfall of the team, yet again.

Itachi could only hope that Sakura had improved enough in the clarity of her memories and personality to be able to control the sporadically extreme emotions of Sasuke.

This was the only fruitless hope that Itachi would admit to clinging to.

…

…

The yellow canary sits on the tree branch above them as they catch up on long lost memories that each one of them should have been there for.

"The one time I remember dying was…"

The raven-haired boy looks at her, directly. His onyx eyes connect with her apple-green orbs, and he falls into the endless chasms of her pools.

He feels as though he is drowning.

_Tweet. Tweet. _

"…when you disappeared."

They should have been there for each other,

It was promise silently made.

But…

_Tweet. Tweet. _

There was regret in his tone.

"We all make selfish sacrifices."

…life got in the way.

_Tweet._

_Tweet! _

She shakes her head and smiles, solemnly, at him. Because, he doesn't understand all of the strife and obstacles that she has had to endure, and…she was pejoratively convinced that he didn't care. She glances up at the chirping yellow-bird as the saline streams clump her elongated eyelashes.

"No, we don't."

…

…

**52.**

"Sometimes, I wish I didn't keep that kid alive," Itachi mumbled under his breath. A gust of wind fluttered past the man, sending his weightless straw hat into the darkening abyss. He didn't turn around, but instead he stared into the opaque sky with a forlorn look. "Emotions make a fool of us all."

As though on cue, the opaque sky drowned in pure black as Itachi watched the reckless crows take over. Surely he would be able to get a hold of Sakura soon, if not…

Well, he would just have to seek her out himself.

* * *

She felt a little bad, you know…for escaping from the motel room and not telling any of her teammates. Who could blame her though? She wasn't a child! However, she did feel absolutely horrible for leaving Sasuke after the night they had just had; in leaving him, she felt as though she had just had a one night stand. Of course it wasn't that, it's just…

It was _Sasuke_.

All she wanted to do was enjoy the scenery that resided just outside of the village, a serene lake that she had spotted out as they were travelling. Towards the heart of the lake was a small island that had a giant, sturdy oak tree inhabiting the center—one that was aged and had survived all of the harshest winters that have surely attacked it. It represented something to Sakura that she could not yet decipher. The darkened oak, indisputably from where it had been burned; the infinite multi-colored leaves, a reassuring sign of the impending autumn; and, the utter completeness that this tree radiated… Well, it…—

It _enticed_ her.

Her back was leaning against the rough bark and her head was tilted downwards. She had been focusing on the past few days, especially on the past few days with Sasuke. They were lovers now, _finally_, and, well, apparently they used to be lovers, too. But, the most poignant problem was: she had drugged him. When she was contemplating on whether or not to do it, there _was_ much turmoil; but, in the end, she couldn't resist.

Her memories, her _Sasuke-kun_—these were things that were simply too tempting to deny. She wanted to become the person she used to be; to love and be loved by all of the people she had met throughout the entire course of her life. She just wanted…to remember. And, she felt that via having sex with Sasuke she would be able to grasp certain feelings, certain emotions, and certain memories that would help her reach her ultimate goal. Which, in one sense, it did work; however, it didn't work quite as well as she had wanted.

And, one of the reasons she ran here before he woke up was that she didn't want to deal with the wrath of an angry Sasuke that was bound to be awaking soon.

He would beret her with insults about her intelligence and strength and wit for drugging him and seducing him; he would complain about her and ignore her for the next few hours of their upcoming mission; and, he would refuse to look at her—just cast casual glances at her when she wasn't looking. Even without being able to say she has known him for long (due to her lack of memories), she has apparently known him long enough to decipher and predict his impending actions and reactions.

She figured she would let him get out his anger a bit first, before she returned to him.

She looked further down.

Her fingers trembled and her bottom lip was tucked beneath her front teeth. Pressing the scroll that the "_Sai_" character had given her against her breasts, she contemplated on whether or not she should trust opening it. She knew that scrolls could have an unlimited amount of power, depending on who had constructed it… It was just… Well, she was unsure about what power Sai could have put within the roll of paper. Who knew?

Could she trust this character? She didn't know. She would never really know until she regained her memories; but, he did tell her to open it when the time was right. How was she supposed to know when the time was _right_? That was silly!

She had the power to open it whenever she pleased. "It's just…" Sakura began, her lip twitching under her teeth, "It's just I… I don't know." She shook her head. She was talking to herself again. She felt she had an excuse when she was _hearing _voices in her head, but she wasn't. She was just talking to herself.

Gathering up the courage she was unsure of whether or not she had, Sakura cautiously undid the beautifully crocheted bow that the man had made around the scroll's folds. As the strings fell to their residing sides, she took a deep breath and pulled the rolls to each of their belonging sides.

...

...

...

He told her to trust him, so she did. He told her to not worry when she imbibed the powder that he had poured into water, so she tried not to. He told her to believe in life when she started to feel the impending euphoria entrance her, but…

"How does it feel? To lose control and feel the world—to feel gravity disappear and believe in the sanctity of humanity?"

She couldn't.

She paused for a moment, thinking her words thoroughly. "It feels…" She hesitates, "…horrible. I don't like being lost in a fading hope for the world. I can only wish that it was forever…"

He eyes her, concerned and wary.

"…not futile."

…

…

**52.**

She gasped, her breath hitching and lodging in her throat for an inconsequential amount of time. Apple-green eyes examined and analyzed the horizontal piece of paper to the best of their ability. The further her pools of emerald traced the paper, the duller her eyes grew.

(**Target pulse rate** . . . . 100.)

She traced her fingers along the rigid lines, along the wonderfully designed ink, along the pictures the retained so much of her soul, so much of her emotions.

In the first two minutes of her staring at the carefully drawn scenes, she had forgotten how to breathe.

(**Target blood pressure** . . . . 120/80.)

She didn't understand how…how to react.

* * *

"Oi!"

There was a thrashing in his head—a pounding he has never gotten, and would never get, used to. Slamming his palm against his forehead, he felt as though he were drowning in the after-effects of mind-numbing sex and excessively overdone sake-soaked memories.

"OI!"

Sasuke shifted in the bed, burrowing his head further into the pillow.

He _despised_ hangovers.

"Bastard!"

The last thing he needed was some wanton idiot bellowing out insults and exclamations, whilst at the same time he had to deal with the consequences of sleeping with the docile Sakura.

Shit.

The blond wondered aloud, "Where's Sakura?"

Sakura.

"Wake up," Naruto grumbled, pulling the cold sheets off the Uchiha. Sapphire orbs widened to saucers and the boy's body did a complete turnaround. "Woah—! Bastard, you should have warned me you slept in the nude!"

There's a pause that drifted between the two men as Sasuke covered himself up and glared at the other.

"Wait…" Naruto contemplated. "Did you seriously _sleep_ with Sakura?"

_Shit. _

A scowl, the angriest, scariest scowl that Naruto had ever seen, appeared on Sasuke's face. "Get. Out."

"And you say that _I'm_ the moron?" Naruto scoffed, "I can't believe you."

Venom was underlying his word: "Out."

However, the Uchiha was no longer competing for who could be angrier—Naruto's cheeks were beginning to redden. "Are you fucking serious, Sasuke?!" Naruto yelled, "We're on a mission to help her, not to _fuck_ her!"

He bit his tongue. He bit it really, really hard.

And, then, he did the only thing he could to:

he thought.

...

...

...

"I really wanted to say 'I do,'" she mumbles into her cup of burnt tea leaves. "I had waited an entire lifetime to say those words—to be with him and smile with him and hold his hand and kiss him until I couldn't breathe."

With his visible eye, he watches as her hands tepidly shake, causing the tea to form volatile waves which crashed against the cup and over its rim.

"So, why didn't you?"

Tears are pooling in her eyes and she drops her cup, gasping as she watches the shards shatter into millions of pieces against the _uglyugly_ dirt. Her face lifts up and she looks at her lover, presenting to him a despondent smile that radiated nostalgic scars and a hesitant future.

She cries because she doesn't want to remember—she just wants to forget and be happy in the now.

_(She just wants them to be happy.)_

"Because I couldn't love something that was already dead."

So, she kisses him.

"And then I noticed you."

He smiles—that crooked one that is so broken and yet trying so hard, but its the happiest smile he has left. She smiles—that heart-wrenching one that tears at the seams of any person's soul; because she _is_ happy, but there will always be that underlying pain, that never-ending sorrow.

_(Why did that have to be so hard to ask for?)_

…

…

**53.**

"I can't believe it," Naruto began laughing, dryly, "that you had the audacity to put your libido before your mission. Do you understand how _vulnerable_ she is right now?"

It was seeing those disgusting, spinning crimson eyes that had Naruto pausing in his speech. Naruto threw his hands up in an exclamatory gesture that slightly surprised the Uchiha; but, he ignored it.

"You know nothing." Sasuke spat. The Uchiha tossed in the bed, reaching for his boxers. Under the sheets, Sasuke managed to cover himself to what he had deemed appropriate; and, he quickly stood up.

"_Nothing_," he emphasized, eyes narrowing even further and his brows furrowed.

The Uzamaki shook his head. "No, Sasuke," there was a minute of silence that filtered between the two men, "it's her who doesn't know anything. And, that's the worst part about it!"

Naruto laughed, "She doesn't even know who you are—!"

Sasuke walked past the man, his shoulder roughly slamming into Naruto's in the process. He snidely hissed, "Fuck you."

"She doesn't even fucking know who you are! Fuck, no one can see who you are, Sasuke," Naruto chided, sadly, "She doesn't know where you have been, all of the people you've ruthlessly killed," Naruto closed his eyes, his lips forming into a deep, sardonic frown, "and, she especially doesn't know all of the endless _shit_ that you've put her through."

Sasuke eyed Naruto for a moment, the once simmering anger now rekindling as though it were struck with the metaphorical match of Naruto's words. "I don't care." Sasuke didn't turn around to look at Naruto.

"You're so fucking selfish," Naruto growled. "Fuck, I'd rather her be happy and loved with Kakashi again than to have her revert back to the heart-wrenching, mind-numbing shit you constantly put her through."

Sasuke's hands were balling into fists at this point, his knuckles becoming a paler white than that of Orochimaru's skin tone. Apparently those two had more in common than Sasuke realized.

"You're pathetic!" Sasuke laughed, psychotically."That dumb old man will never be worth anything; and, he will never be able to steal her from me again! I _own_ her now, Naruto—remember that. No matter who she goes to, she will _always_ come back to me. That's why she'll never love you, why she'll _never_ fucking love Kakashi—only me."

A smirk formed its way on the Uchiha's lips, and it slowly turned into a cryptic grin.

"Only me."

It seemed more of a demanding plea to the heavens than a reassuring fact.

"That's where you're wrong." Naruto's eyes were no longer angry, just sad. Those cerulean orbs resembled the ugly, dead abyss that they were forever battling. Naruto turned around to stare blankly at Sasuke's back.

"Do you even love her?"

Sasuke didn't respond. He didn't need to explain himself to anyone; he didn't need to confirm his feelings for her. In his mind, he already knew what he could selfishly say, because he already knew that he would do everything in his power to keep her—he absolutely refused to lose her again.

He _didn't_ need to explain himself.

"You're my brother, Sasuke," Naruto glowered. "But that doesn't change the fact that there's a part of me that hopes that she'll never know you again—the _real_ you."

"Get this through your fucking thick skull, Naruto…" Sasuke's hand gripped the doorknob in a vice-like grip, twisting and pulling it off the door. He looked down at the bent piece of metal that newly resided in his hand; then, he let it fall gracelessly to the ground with a quiet _thunk_!

"I have no brother."

The door slammed.

* * *

…

…

The night he came back—the night he he had the audacity to walk back into those large wooden gates—the nightmares started.

His steps were greedy, indifferent; it seemed he didn't even care to acknowledge his leaving, his attempts to destroy their (Sakura's, Naruto's, Kakashi's—_everyone's_) home, his attempts to _kill _them.

Her whole body trembles as she watches with disbelief; and Kakashi's hand is on her shoulder trying to keep her from falling (_again and again and again and_...); and Naruto, that foolish_foolish_ little brother, runs up to the Uchiha and tackles him in a weary hug—a hug of desperation and longing, one that he has saved for years and years and years, because he finally has _his_ brother back (the brother that never gave a shit, but does that really matter if you never acknowledge it?).

That night, with his sharingan ablaze, he pushes the "_dobe_" off of him and stares determinedly into _blankblankbroken_ apple-green eyes, completely disregarding his former (_useless, decrepit, old, pervert of_ a) teacher's presence, his smiling (_you'll never be me, you'll never be enough for them_) replacement, and his former blond (_thick-skulled, weak, why don't you get it yet?_) teammate.

"I'll make you mine,"

he breathes, he yells, he says; his tone thick as though it is a predetermined fact—as though the future hangs in those three spinning tomoes, caustically implanting silver cords into the triangular prisms of their spines.

She watches as a single beam of light insinuates itself into the pitch blackness, between the separation of her family and her runaway.

It seamlessly cuts through the darkness like a blade—the same blade he tried to kill her with those many years ago.

….

…

**54.**

In front of her laid several scenes. The scenes were so intricately drawn, so _alluring_—all three of them. What confused her most was that each picture had a woman and a man, people she…_knew_.

(_Initializing sequence_ . . . **ACTIVATED**.)

"A-Aah!" She groaned.

Looking back up, her mind went blank and she started processing the blankness that was trying to overtake her active thoughts. She brought her forefingers to her temples and a sea foam green glow began emitting. "This is my…chakra?" She wondered, the sickening feeling that was previously coming was now being usurped by a relaxing euphoria.

The first picture on the far left side was of a female with short hair, which she deduced as herself, and then a man she believed to be Sasuke. She was standing in front of him, the kanji of—

Her eyes brightened; a white, hot light flashed, blinding her sight.

...

"_Don't… don't go, Sasuke."_ _She breathed. Her whole body felt like it was dying, her senses completely ignored and destroyed. "You don't need too. I know that you think gaining power will help you—that it will help you kill your brother…but, I think there's more to all of this than you can see." _

"_You don't know anything, Sakura." Sasuke scoffed, turning his back to her. "You have no reason to be her, or to judge what is best for me. You don't know me." _

"_Revenge will just make you even lonelier, even sadder and angrier; revenge is going to kill you." Sakura cried. The bitter saline created unforgiving streams down her cheeks; it dripped like diamonds off her tongue and bit down at the pitiful child in front of her. "You can never see what's in front of you," she mumbled, "Naruto, Kakashi, even me! We _are_ your family. I don't know why you keep looking for some replica of justice that can't, and will never, be served."_

"_You will never fucking understand me, Sakura!" Sasuke yelled, his composure completely fallen. "You don't know what it's like to have everything taken from you—even better, by your own _kin_! Do you understand how much I've been through because of the person that's supposed to be my fucking _brother_?!" _

"_Sasuke…" Her tears would, and could, never stop. A numbing feeling was taking over her body, but she thanked the Gods that she could still…still feel her heart. "My parents were taken from me too, by Orochimaru—the man that you are pursuing. How should that make me feel? The man who fully owns my heart is going to be the apprentice of the man who killed my own flesh and blood."_

_There is a long silence that filtered between the two of them. Something akin to regret seemed to be hovering in the onyx of his eyes. "Sak—"_

_She cut him off, "I love you with all of my heart, Sasuke. I know you know that, so I don't know why I'm even reiterating that. To have you follow Orochimaru, a ruthless bastard that has taken everything from me, and from so many others; to have you deny Kakashi, Naruto, and me as your family; and, to have you deny my, what I had initially believed to be infinite, love for you… You're right."_

_There was no reluctance, no uncertainty in her voice. "I don't know you." _

"_Sakura," Sasuke choked, swiftly turning back around to face her, "it's not—"_

"_Sasuke, go kill Itachi. I already warned you, so you can't come back and expect me to wait for you any longer. You're not going to feel any better; in fact, I bet you'll feel like shit!" She laughed dryly, psychotically, almost. She radiated anger, sadness, and defeat—something he had never seen in her before. "Don't worry though, because you know better." Sakura chastised, venomously, sarcasm dripping off each forlorn word. _

_She violently, in the most child-like manner she had shown in years, wiped the tears from her eyes, and she stomped up to the now straightening up Uchiha. "Am I worth nothing to you?!" It was almost a scream. _

_He thought. _

_In his mind, he was denying this statement automatically; but, everything he was able to deny so easily, he couldn't even begin to articulate. He couldn't be tempted to stay, to let Itachi have killed his family with no retribution; he couldn't let her convince him to live and be happy, to be happy with the new family he had formed with Team 7; he couldn't be tempted to live with the one who had finally broken down the barriers of his heart and soul, Sakura. _

"_Sasuke…" She was standing only a couple inches away from him now, the tips of her breasts touching the bottom of his chest. She was looking up at him, her emeralds shining like they could never be purchased and her petal lips glowing like rubies that could never be touched. "I love you."_

_His breath hitched. Somewhere in his mind, throughout the torrential downpour of thoughts which was tearing him apart, he realized that he had never told her how beautiful she was. _

_This is one of the most prominent things that Sasuke Uchiha would always regret._

_Her feet were itching upwards, forcing her to standing on her tiptoes, and her chin tilted in an upward direction. She brought her right hand to his left cheek and sensually stroked it with the most tender touch—the same one that reminds him so much of his mother. Her fingers dragged further left, barely skimming the back of his ear, and she pulled his face down towards her own. "I love you with all of my heart," she breathed, drawled, seductively, enticingly whispered to him, "and, I know that there's something inside of you, something other than that angry, vengeful boy. I know…" _

_He would never admit it, but the moment he felt her softly tug his face down, he automatically dropped down and captured her lips. His lips caught hers in the worst moment, for the most merciless rain began to fall; however, that didn't stop either of them—especially Sasuke. _

_In this moment he had forgotten how to breathe. Everything surrounding them was everything to nothing; the only two people that mattered were him and her. And, without hesitation, he knew he couldn't care less about breathing again. _

_His lips hit the corner of hers and he watched her reaction, bemusedly Her eyes were widened, most likely out of surprise that he initiated the kiss, and her body melted, falling limply against his; in quick efforts, his hands surrounded her waist and he pulled her flush against him, eliminating any possible gaps that were previously between the two of them. Her eyes fluttered shut, the lashes creating elongated shadows that stretched down her face, the water dripping with the seemingly endless, forbidden shadow. _

_She thought she looked appalling, the way she was bawling her eyes out, tear-stained cheeks, make-up running, puffy, red eyes, sniffling, sniffling nose; and though he would never admit it, he was awestruck; he thought, at that very moment, she was the most beautiful she had ever been. _

_And, in this, he let his guard down for once, and he chose to close his eyes—he chose to take the chance of indulging in the most amazing thing that he had ever known. The most amazing thing he knew he would forever experience, cherish so dearly, and never tell a soul about. It was his. _

_Only his. _

_With her bottom lip between his, he eagerly dragged his tongue against the petal. Her lips parted acceptingly, and the hand that was against his cheek delved into the deep black void of his hair. Their tongues danced, creating a new tango unseen to man, something so forsaken and forbidden that only they would forever know and cherish. _

_Lungs pleading for air, they parted, gluttonously drinking up the rain and oxygen that they so desperately clung to. Sasuke still held her in his arms, hesitant and reluctant to let her go. He knew that the moment he parted from this woman, he would also be parting from everything he has come to know—family, love, and…_

_Life. _

_His hands faltered as he fought against his emotions, he needed to let her go and continue on with his life-long goal: revenge. _

"_I-I know you love me too." _

_Her arms were still gripping him as though if she let go, he would disappear into the harsh, crisp wind and ocean of rain forever. He didn't blame her. _

_Because he would._

"_Sakura…" He drawled, it was a tone that was borderline of caring and of indifference. She couldn't tell, and she didn't know if she wanted to. "I…"_

_"No...—" She breathed, eyes terrified and lip whimpering. "Please— Please don't do this to me." _

_She was grovelling, begging even; a__nd that shred his soul apart even more. It rapturously shredded the arteries from his shriveling heart, because they were in the wrong places. It was he who should have been the one begging _her—_t__o wait for him and pray for him and say she'll love him forever and ever. _

_But, he didn't deserve that, nor did she. _

_She deserved everything and infinity, plus one; and that was everything he couldn't give to her. _

"_Stay with me, please… Stay with me," Sakura mumbled into his chest. "Let me be with you forever, let me love you. Sasuke, let me…—" _

_He closed his eyes, vanishing before hers._

_("Let me make you feel.")_

…

…

"Turn away," the dark man groans with a desperate look in his haunted eyes.

She blinks, her feet stuttering backwards but her body does not seem to want to follow his command.

This is him, he's finally here—he's finally looking at the same sky as her and staring straight into her eyes and this time...this time she can actually see something in those eyes (the ones which used to be so dull and dead and sad and lost). She sees desperation and longing; but she also hears the sadness in his tone. This is her moment—this is _their _moment.

At this very moment they are at the center of the world and nothing can separate their unity. Nothing, but blood-soaked memories of their past and the opaque glass eyes of their future. Nothing can separate them from this moment of infinity, while everything will separate them for an eternity.

"Please...—" she whimpers, "Please don't do this to me again," she whispers, she pleads, she _begs_. Because she can't handle losing everything they have fought for again, _and again and again and again_. Because he's finally back.

He's back, and she is just feet away from holding and coddling him in her arms—

So, she reaches out to him; but, in response, he flinches back (as though he is absolutely terrified).

He raises a hand to her, postponing further action. He licks his lips and reluctantly warns, _cries_, "I'll die if you touch me."

—like he never left, like they could start over, like life was simple.

And, she turns around, hoping to the gods that the image of him would be burned, forever imprinted, on the universe of her mind for later generations.

"This is the only immortality we may share."

She can't breathe, she can't see; so she does the only thing she can do:

(The most important thing to remember about leaving the past behind is to never look back)

she jumps.

(no matter how tempting it might be.)

…

…

**55.**

_It was the breath in the wind; it kissed every inch of her body, yet the warmth forever vanished. "Thank you, Sakura."_

_________Her world went black._

___He couldn't give her any of the things she wanted, because he only knew how to take. __So, he reluctantly, wistfully, accepted the fact that he would just have to take back what was his when he was finished. _

_And he wouldn't allow for anything to get in his way._

...

And when she blinked back into reality, she tried so hard to bite back the scream of anger and grief that was arising in her throat. She couldn't.

It was all too much.

All she wanted to do was lash out at the tree, the same tree which enticed her and she had admired so much moments ago, and pummel it to the ground—_anything_ to delete it from this existence. She focused on gathering the green chakra to her fists and she spun around. She tried to reassure herself that she needed to get rid of that tree, because she needed to destroy something—she needed some salvation in this jaded life. She ignored the utter feeling of the eventual guilt conscious, because she knew that this wouldn't fix anything.

But, for the moment it would; and that was enough.

She threw a punch with all of her might, slamming her fist against the burnt oak's bark and sending the tree into a devastating death. She watched as the shards of oak flew about, surrounding her adrenaline-filled body; but, regretfully, it wasn't enough. Sending chakra to her feet, she jumped high into the air only to slam her fist back into the ground with brute force, causing a massive earthquake to erupt around her.

Sakura then stood there, blank and demure and breathing too hard; and, she didn't know what else she could do.

There was nothing left she could destroy.

So, she cried.

She cried because she didn't understand it quite yet; but the imminent warning of the kanji above the painting of her and Sasuke was the least reassuring thing she could have envisioned. Out of all emotions that could have been presented to her about her past relationships, she believed that Sai had found the most destructive one of them all.

The kanji of '_Fear.'_

_..._

* * *

**A/N:** Let me know what you think! I love to hear new thoughts and opinions.

**Reviews make me write. (:**

EWHH its Kenna


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